Incomplete
by Mar.xoxo
Summary: Katie Bell is back for her Sixth Year at Hogwarts. And it's getting off to a rocky start with Quidditch, boys, and enemies all playing on her mind. Not to mention the raging hormones of teenagers. Includes the usual gang along with a few OCs. Ch. 20 up
1. Intro

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything affiliated with Harry Potter. I simply own Iris, Jon, Emily, and a few others.**

**Summary: This is about Katie Bell's Sixth Year at Hogwarts and what happens to her and her friends throughout the year.**

**Rating: Strong T. This chapter is pretty mild, though. **

**Notes: Ok. This is my first story ever published on this siteso constructive criticism is welcome. No short reviews like 'this sucks' please. If you think this sucks, please explain why you feel that way so maybe I can improve the story a bit. Thanks!**

* * *

"Katie!" Alicia Spinnet and Angelina Johnson called as Katie Bell walked through the barrier from Platform 9 3/4 in Kings Cross. Katie turned her head to the side just in time to see a pair of tanned arms and another pair of darker arms ambush her. 

"Ah. Angie, 'Licia." Katie's muffled voice cried from her position between her friends. "Air. Need air."

The two smiling friends released the younger one and smiled at her. "Miss us?" Angelina said teasingly as Alicia helped Katie out by taking her owl cage and holding it for her.

"Oh yes, Ange, I haven't seen you two, in," She pretended to think, "Three days!" The three giggled as they boarded the train and instantly found the compartment Alicia and Angelina were using.

"Yes, well, Kit Kat, notice anything . . ." Alicia trailed off as she set the empty cage above one of the seats as Angelina and Katie hoisted her trunk up and set it on top of Angelina's before securing it with a charm.

Katie turned her head to look at her fellow teammate. She immediately noticed Alicia's haircut, but cocked her head to the side and observed everything else. Alicia was athletically built, but still remained girlish in her appearance. She had her newly cut hair framing her tanned skin and was already in her robes. "Hm. It appears you have gotten shorter."

"Shorter! What?" Alicia immediately looked at Katie as though she was mad. "Sh-shorter? Really?"

"Pfft. Alicia, she is jesting, you know." Angelina rolled her eyes at her friend. "I swear, Kates, to think she is that dense some times."

"Hello! No talking about me when I'm right here!" Alicia protested.

"Okay, Angelina, care to go find another compartment . . ." Katie offered with a smirk.

"You two are ridiculous." Alicia huffed as she planted herself into a seat next to the window. "I honestly don't see why I put up with you."

"Because you looooove us." Angelina sat on the other side of her and wrapped her arm around Alicia.

"And we keep your deepest darkest secrets about a certain We--" Katie situated herself in Alicia's lap before Alicia elbowed her in the ribs.

"Shush it you!" She hissed when Katie almost said someone's name.

"Oi! Katie whaddaya think you're doing?" Angelina protested as Katie propped her legs in Angelina's lap.

"Getting comfortable." Katie smirked.

Angelina grinned and nudged Alicia. Angelina mouthed 'One' followed by a 'Two' from Alicia and then a loud "THREE!" from the both of them as they pushed Katie to the floor.

"Yiiiae!" Katie yelped as the compartment door slid open.

"Woody! Well how was your summer? Quidditch 24/7 I bet." Alicia greeted.

The man addressed as 'Woody' surveyed the room. His eyes passing from Alicia and Angelina on the seats to Katie, looking as though she was thrown on the floor, back to Angelina and Alicia. "Never call me Woody again and what the bloody hell are you three up to?"

"They pushed me!" Katie accused, pointing at the other two girls.

The accused stuck out their tongues. "Mwahaha." Angelina cackled.

"You never answered my question, Woodsies." Alicia pursued. "How was your summer?"

"Enough with the nicknames." The man groaned in mock annoyance as he moved past Katie and sat on the seat opposite Angelina. "It was fine. Went to a few Puddlemere games, came up with a few plays, usual. You three."

"Romania." Angelina said with an eye roll. "Nothing entertaining there."

"Marseilles. Very cultured and quite lively." Alicia replied dreamily as she remembered her time in France.

"I feel so out of character." Katie said as she pulled herself up to a seat beside Oliver. "I went to Quidditch matches all summer. It gets boring, you know."

"You did not just say Quidditch was boring!" Oliver turned to face her. "You did not."

"Where are Fred and George when you need them?" Katie whined. "I apologize, Oliver, but really, you cannot go to match after match and not find it boring."

"Katie dear," Angelina began. "You have just started the makings of World War 3. Or, that's what my squib auntie says."

"Boring? How is Quidditch boring?" Oliver questioned. "How can you not feel the thrill of the game? The electric atmosphere?"

"You'd be a good poet, Ollywood." Alicia told him, coming up with another nickname.

"Alicia, nicknames, please." Oliver muttered.

"Spoilsport." She mumbled under her breath.

"Boring." Oliver crossed his arms over his chest and cast a scowling glance at Katie.

"You've done it now, Kates." Angelina shook her head.

"Look Oliver--" Katie tried to talk to him but he ignored her. "You are a right arsehole."

"That was unexpected." Alicia whispered to Angelina.

"Excuse me?" Oliver snapped out of his reverie. "Did you just call me an arsehole?"

"Yes. I can have my own opinions. Even if they contradict yours." Katie replied defiantly as she turned her head away.

There was a crash outside the door just as two redhead twins popped in and latched the door behind them with a jinx. "Hello." They echoed together.

"What did you do?" Angelina asked knowingly.

"Do?" One asked back.

"Us?" The other feigned hurtness.

"Nothing!" They replied jovially as one sat beside Angelina and the other beside Oliver. "Eh, Woodie, why are you here with us lowly sixth years?" The one who sat beside him asked.

"Fred, don't call me Woodie. Please." He said loudly before saying a little quieter, "Acting like Emily now."

"Marital problems, Woodiekins?" The other twin asked from afar. "She's a right--" Angelina clamped her hand down over the other twins mouth while muttering a, "George, shush it."

"She's a right what?" Oliver asked, his brow furrowing as he looked at the identical reflection of the twin sitting beside him.

"Lovely catch." Fred finished for his twin.

Katie stifled a laugh as she thought of what George really wanted to say. No matter, she'd find out later, for George would tell Angie and Angie would tell her and Alicia. Or she better.

"Something funny, Bell?" Oliver said as he cast a glance at Katie.

"Oh, no. Just thinking." She lied. Well, it wasn't a total lie. She was thinking about Emily Bradshaw. The beautiful blond Hufflepuff that Oliver had recently taken a liking to before the holidays last summer. She was quite a ditz, even for a Hufflepuff. She always called Oliver either 'Olive' or 'Ollie' while using that sickly sweet tone she was so fond of. As if she was talking to a two-year old. Although, sometimes Oliver acted like it one.

"Ooh. Train's starting to move!" Alicia exclaimed. "Hoggy-warty-warts here we come!"

"Dear Merlin, she's going to sing!" Angelina yelped as she covered her ears, along with the entire cabin as Alicia broke into song.

"Make it stop!" Moaned Fred. "Please make it stop!" He cried in unison with his twin.

* * *

**Okay! That's it! I know it's short! But, it's kinda just a little intro into the story. The chapters will most likely get longer if you guys like it and want me to continue! Please review! Thanks! --Marie**


	2. The Joy of the Hogwarts Express

**Notes: Thanks a lot to my first ever reviewers : Eruaphadriel, Giddyupgal, and Spexy! **

**Giddyupgal: Thanks for the review. You made me realize a lot of things I should have mentioned at the beginning of the story! This is slightly AU in the aspect that Lee, Fred, George, Alicia, Angelina, and Katie are all in their Sixth Years for reasons that will make more sense later! I hope I can improve my writing a bit, as this is my first fic I've posted on the site.**

**Spexy: Thank you so much for reviewing! I hope you like this chapter, too!**

**Eruaphadriel: When I read your review I was so happy! My night has been going so slow and ick. But, your review made me smile! Thank you! **

**I hope you all want me to continue after this chapter! It's kinda long and I hope it doesn't drag on for too long**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything affiliated with Harry Potter!**

**Rating: T probably. No harsh language in this chapter. Not much, if any.**

**Oh and thoughts are represented in italics _like this._**

* * *

Half an hour later the three girls sat in the compartment sans Fred, George, and Oliver. Fred and George had gone off to bother their brothers Percy and Ron, along with Harry and Hermione, and with any luck catch Percy snogging his girlfriend Penelope Clearwater. For blackmail purposes only, Fred had insisted, "We risk scarring our minds for the sake of a prank!" They had told them as they had scurried away. And, yes, they actually scurried. 

Oliver, on the other hand, hadn't gone willingly. Emily had found Oliver in the compartment amongst three girls and insisted he come sit with her because she was 'lonely'. Pfft. She was just jealous of the fact Oliver was, well, alone in a compartment with three girls. Although it wasn't like Alicia, Angelina, or Katie had jumping Oliver's bones on their to-do list.

_At least not on mine._Katie thought, _Can't speak for Alicia and Angelina. Well, we all know Alicia's got a crush on George. Not quite sure about Angelina, though._

"I still can't get over the fact that Oliver is dating that -- cow." Alicia scoffed. "I mean, sure she's attractive, but other than that . . . she's a bitch."

"Well, lets see how long it takes before Oliver realizes that." Angelina offered with a gleam in her eyes. "Bets, ladies?"

"Oh. Okay. Lets see, ten galleons to whoever guesses more accurately to when they'll break up." Katie agreed as she looked over at her friends.

"Ten galleons? Hm. Alright." Alicia nodded as she turned to one of her best friends. "Angie?"

"I'm in. And I say a month from now." The darker Chaser revealed.

"Hm. I think Oliver might catch on in about two weeks!" Alicia guessed. "He's not _madly _stupid."

"Quite the contrary. I think he will be too wrapped up in Quidditch to be bothered by her. I give it till right before the holidays, when she starts bothering him about gifts." Katie stated matter-of-factly as she imagined Emily going on and on about clothes and accessories that she had seen in boutiques that she deemed necessary to own.

"Well, we all have our guesses, now we must swear to award the winner with their proper reward, which will be ten galleons from each of the losers." Alicia said in a grown up voice.

"I swear I'll abide by the rules!" Angelina smiled.

"As will I." Katie agreed with her fellow teammate.

"Good. I swear too." Alicia nodded. "That's all settled."

"So . . . " Katie smiled at Alicia and Angelina. "Any summer fun involving -boys?"

"I knew that was coming!" Angelina shouted. "Nosy little . . . "

"None for me." Alicia pouted.

"She's waiting for George to ask her out!" Angelina added in a whisper that meant to be heard by Alicia.

"Am not!" Alicia squealed.

"Are too!" Angelina and Katie echoed together.

"Are too what?" Oliver poked his head into the compartment before sliding inside and magicking the door shut. "Hope she doesn't find me in here."

"Nothing, nothing." All three lied to their Captain.

"Escaping from someone, Ollywood?" Alicia quizzed, cocking her head to the side.

Oliver looked scornfully at Alicia before taking his seat next to Katie again. "No, not at all." He said sarcastically. "Just locking myself into a compartment with you three for no reason."

"Is that an insult?" Katie raised an eyebrow at her Captain.

"Oi, I think it is." Angelina glared at Oliver. "See if we win any games for _you _this year!" She crossed her arms over her chest and looked up at the ceiling.

"It could have been a compliment. I just wanted to see my three best Chasers."

"We're your _only _Chasers, you git!" Katie hit him on the upper arm.

"That makes you three the best." Oliver stated.

"You calling us your best Chasers are like us calling you our best Keeper." Alicia bantered.

"And I'd say thank you." Oliver quipped.

"Smartarse." Angelina taunted.

"So, Olive, where is Emily?" Katie asked too sweetly using Oliver's newest and most hated nickname given to him by Emily.

"Don't know, don't want to know." Oliver mumbled so only Katie could hear. Katie would have usually had some smart remark, but the way he said it unnerved her. Was something really wrong with Oliver and Emily? That's not good. Hopefully she didn't go and shag some other guy and Oliver found out. They better not break up, She thought, If so then I just lost 10 galleons. That's mean, I am being inconsiderate of Oliver's feelings. Pffft on my conscience.

"FRED! GEORGE!" The outraged voice of Percy Weasley was heard throughout the train. "GET BACK HERE NOW!"

Promptly afterwards there was some banging on the compartment door. "Open up! Now now now!" Their voices jumbled as they begged the others inside to let them in.

"Idiots." Alicia rolled her eyes as she opened the door with a simple 'Alohamora' charm and Fred and George came busting through the doorway.

"Percy--"

"--caught us--"

"--recording his conversation--"

"--with Penelope." They finished as they leaned back against the cabin door.

"Dirty little bastard." Fred said as he ran his hand through his hair. "He best not hope I send that recording to Mum. Especially on a howler."

"I don't think I even want to know what you two recorded." Angelina leaned her head back as George sat beside her and Fred sat beside Oliver.

"Sure you do, Ange --- and what is that?" George pointed out to the rainy countryside as he saw a blurred figure.

"What is what?" Angelina and the rest of the cabin looked out the window. "I don't see anything."

"It was there, I swear! I SAW it." George stressed. "I saw something out the window."

The countryside became more and more visible. "Eh, we're slowing down." Katie acknowledged.

"We're not at Hogwarts yet! What's going on!" Alicia demanded, but was only answered with the complete halting of the Hogwarts Express and the lights going out.

Subconsciously, Katie leaned into Oliver some as the cabin became colder and colder. Alicia and George scooted closer to Angelina on either side of her, and Fred watched in shock and awe as he saw his breath form before him in the dim lighting. _Now isn't that normal. _He thought sarcastically. _I know the weather gets chilly up here and all, but what in Merlin's name is going on? Why are we stopping? It's not time for the First Years to leave yet._

The happiness was fading from the room quickly and all they could feel was the cold. Katie's eyes stared ahead of her as she wrapped her arms around herself and Oliver placed an arm around her shoulders (and almost did the same to Fred before realizing who it was). Angelina brought her knees to her chest in the same manner that Alicia did to try and find some warmth.

"It's cold." Katie whispered to Oliver, who turned in her general direction and nodded as he tightened his grip around her shoulders. None of the people in the cabin could seem to find an ounce of warmth. Ice formed over the windows. Just as the happiness began to drain from them, suddenly, it was all over. The lights came on, but the warmth didn't return until much later. "What was that?" Katie asked the whole cabin as the train began moving.

"Dementors." Oliver and Fred answered at the same time.

"Dementors! On the Hogwarts Express! Ludicrous!" Angelina exclaimed. "Dumbledore would never allow that!"

"It's that Sirius Black they're looking for." Alicia nodded. "They think he's going to try and break into Hogwarts, they do."

"Now don't go getting paranoid, 'Licia." George tried to assure her. "They can't put dementors at Hogwarts. Dumbledore wouldn't have any of it! Like Ange said."

"George--" Katie began. "Why else would the train stop for the dementors? Obviously something is going on."

"I don't know any more than you guys know. We aren't even sure it was dementors. Lets just wait until we get to Hogwarts and Dumbledore will explain everything. Or I'll write mum and dad about it." The twin sitting diagonally from Katie responed with a shrug.

"I'm going to check on Ron and them. Harry seems to be the local target for everything nowadays, hopefully he'll have some answers." Fred announced, not liking the way that suddenly their light-hearted conversation had taken a serious turn after the . . . whatever it was . . . had stopped the train. Standing up, he addressed is brother. "Shall we?"

"We shall." George became more lighthearted and marched off with his brother.

"I'm going to go find the trolley. Food sounds good about now." Alicia stood as George and Fred exited the compartment. "Anyone want anything?"

"A chocolate frog would be nice." Katie piped up. "I'll pay you when I can get to my trunk and all. I don't much fancy carrying around wizarding money all the time. Too heavy."

"Yeah, a frog sounds nice." Angelina told her and stood.

"Wood?" Alicia turned to face Oliver.

"Nothing, thanks." He said, staring at her for a second but soon readjusted himself and cleared his throat.

"Well, we'll be back!" Alicia said, regaining her cheery demeanor. "And we're off, Ange!"

Alicia skipped, dragging Angelina with her as she opened and shut the compartment door as Katie and Oliver continued a conversation about the absurdity of dementors on the train.

"Alicia, right?" A tall blonde adorned in robes of the Hufflepuff house color approached the Gryffindor Chasers.

"Emily, hi." Alicia said in false niceness as she crossed her arms infront of her chest. "We're just off to find the trolley, know which way it went?" She looked from one end of the train to the other.

"No, but, I have been looking for Oliver. It was so scary when the lights went out and he wasn't there and I wanted to make sure he was alright." Emily practically moaned in complaint.

_Right. Can we say, "Clingy, much?"_Alicia mentally pictured herself slapping the girl. _And Katie best not think I didn't see that little touchy touchy thing between her and Oliver. It might have been dark but, I am not stupid. Well, they have been friends for a while, but . . . I'm getting some wicked interesting vibes. _

"Didn't he go off with Fred and George, Ange?" Alicia must have been thinking the same thing as Angelina: Diversion from whatever Emily might assume if she found Oliver and Katie in their current situation.

"Yeah. Think they went to go see some of their friends like Lee and Jon." Angelina lied, referring to Lee Jordan and Jon Wright, both members of Gryffindor House and the twin's and Oliver's good friends.

"Oh. I must have just missed them. I believe Jon's in the compartment next to mine." Emily stood their in thought for a moment. "If you see him, he knows where I am." She rolled her eyes. "Thank you -- Amelia and Angelica right?"

"Alicia and Angelina." Alicia corrected sourly as the Hufflepuff turned and walked off.

Angelina flipped her the bird while Alicia mad a strangling gesture behind her back. "If I wasn't a good witch and I knew the Unforgivable Curses, I'd have a field-day on that--that--THING!" Angelina happily offered as she rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet.

"Don't you mean with?" Alicia attempted to correct.

"Either way, she'd be wishing she was a squib!" Angelina roared. "Pah. Her and her false Miss Universe attitude and thinking she could have any man she wanted! I swear, Oliver's no genius, but to think he would get with her."

"Sex must be good." Alicia muttered.

"Visuals, 'Licia!" Angelina groaned. "I'll never look at Oliver the same knowing he's been shagging her."

"Maybe he hasn't." Alicia shrugged. "Not everyone shags someone after that amount of time."

"That's the only excuse I have for him dating her unless you want me to call him flat out stupid, deaf, dumb, and blind." Angelina admitted.

"Well, we can have some Emily-bashing moments later, believe me, they'll be plenty, but I am starved!" The lighter Chaser said, placing a hand over her stomach to add dramatics.

Moments after Alicia and Angelina's departure, Katie disentangled herself from Oliver's arm around her shoulder and sighed. "Oliver, I don't get it." Katie said as she leaned against the wall and gazed out the window as the countryside rushed by.

"Get what?" Oliver asked cluelessly.

"It's like, before last year, you were--and still are--Quidditch obsessed and then it's like, suddenly, you discovered girls! And then, now that you've actually began to notice the female race, you start dating Emily Bradshaw! I just don't get it! Why not someone with at least some brains and a personality! She's just so arrogant and inconsiderate and bitchy and--" She realized she was ranting to Oliver and not Alicia and Angelina and snapped her mouth shut, but opened her mouth up to mutter, "I think I've said too much."

"Is that what you think?" Oliver said quietly. "You think Emily is dumb, arrogant, inconsiderate and has no personality?"

Katie rolled her eyes and shrugged, "I said it, didn't I?"

"Sometimes people say things they don't mean and don't understand." The Keeper said sincerely, acting way out of character. It puzzled Katie, for the serious conversations were always reserved for Alicia and Angelina. Never Oliver. Lighthearted, Quidditch-Obsessed Oliver.

"I understand enough. She's not right for you, Ol." She continued. "I mean, what about that Ravenclaw, Paige Reynolds. She's decent, her brother plays for the Falmouth Falcons, so she understands Quidditch, and she does have _some _brains and a personality."

"She's dating Lee." Oliver told her almost coldly.

"See, you know who she's dating. You must have some interest in her then." Katie pointed out as her hazel eyes brightened up.

"She's my cousin's step-sister." Oliver deadpanned.

"Oh, well--" Katie sighed. "It was worth a shot."

Oliver leaned down to whisper in Katie's ear. "Thanks for caring, Kates, but I think I can handle Emily Bradshaw on my own."

Oliver's breath tickled her ear and cheek and she jerked in a movement, turning her head to look at him, but all too late realized Oliver hadn't leaned back to his original position just as the compartment door slid open. Katie's breath caught for a moment out of shock as her lips met those of her dear friend. _Oh no. Bad bad bad. Oliver's lips on mine. That means we're kissing! MERLIN! WE'RE KISSING! _Full realization hit Katie as her hand came up to his neck just as Oliver put his to her shoulders as they both pushed away.

"Uh oh." Katie mumbled to herself as she covered her face with her hands, forcing herself not to blush.

Alicia and Angelina exchanged looks. "Um, if there is something going on here I think there is a certain blonde Hufflepuff that might need a hint."

"Nothing is going on, Ange." Katie crossly told her friend at the accusation.

"Uh okay." Angelina obviously didn't want to disturb the two anymore. "Gotcha a chocolate frog." She tossed a candy box in her direction and Katie uncovered her eyes and grabbed it before it hit her in the chest. "See, and working on reflexes too! We'll definitely win the Cup this year, Wood." Whatever topic change Angelina was offering, Katie was grateful and would thank her many times over when they got to their dormitories. That is, if they weren't pestering her about the kiss.

_Does it even count as a kiss? It wasn't supposed to happen or anything. It was a brief little peck. There we go, a peck. A friendly peck. _Katie thought to herself, satisfied by her answer.

"Ran into Emily." Alicia bluntly stated as she popped a red Bertie Botts Every Flavor Bean into her mouth. "Yum, strawberry." She added satisfied. "Want one?" She offered everyone.

"When?" Oliver asked as he took one carefully out of the bag. It was green. He carefully slipped it into his mouth. "Yuck."

"Ooh, Oliver got a grass one." Angelina laughed.

"No. Even worse, lime." Oliver shuddered but swallowed it anyway. Everyone in Gryffindor had learned Oliver hated lime last year when Alicia, Angelina, Fred, George, Lee, Jon, and Katie had baked him a lime cake for his birthday (Okay, so Fred and George had convinced the House elves to do it. It was the thought that counted, though.) They were only trying to be nice, but, nooo, Oliver would have none of it. He had the nerve to spit it out into his napkin. Followed by Lee smashing a piece in his hair which lead to a full on food fight . . . but that wasn't the point.

""Licia, if I get a nasty one, you're in for it." Katie said as she grabbed a white one. "Marshmallow, I hope." She put it in her mouth and her lips curled with disgust. "Candlewax. Uck."

"When did you 'run into' Emily?" Oliver asked again as it seemed Alicia and Angelina were ignoring his question.

"Right when we stepped out of the compartment." Alicia stated tersely.

"Alicia, what did she want?" Oliver asked more seriously, his brown eyes boring into Alicia's darker eyes.

"She just wanted to know where you were, Ollie-dear." Alicia said innocently.

"And I assume you just told her where I was and she just turned around and went the other way?" Oliver said sharply.

Angelina glared at him and answered, "It's your girlfriend, mate, if you wanted to be with her so bad, you should have just stayed in there with her instead of coming in here and snogging Katie!"

"Leave me out of this!" Katie added, not wanting to hear of what she had now dubbed The Incident.

"No use dragging that mistake in my face, Angelina, thankyouverymuch." Oliver snapped crossly. "Is it such a crime to leave my girlfriend for half and hour to sit in here with my friends!"

"It is when you have a _clingy _girlfriend!" Angelina scoffed. "You two are so far up each other asses it's insane! So what? We told your girlfriend you weren't with us, big effing deal! It's not like you were rushing off to find her! If I recall you were running _from _her."

"I wasn't running _from _anyone! I just wanted to come in here with you!" He gestured to three of the girls.

"Ah, so what you're saying is that you weren't running from Emily? You just suddenly came back in here after Emily had just taken you off?" Alicia snorted.

"It's not like I have to be with her 24/7. I have a life outside of being her boyfriend, you know."

_Need we have to remind ourselves of your ridiculous Quidditch obsession. _Katie mentally answered as she knew Alicia and Angelina were thinking the same thing. She doubted that either of them could forget his strainful --not to mention stressful-- training routine. "Lets not argue . . . ," Katie tried to interrupt, but was drained out by Angelina retorting to Oliver's previous statement.

"Really? Because up until now, you haven't even known your friends exist since meeting that cow!" She spat angrily. "You would think you could at least send Jon or Lee or even the twins and owl being that Little Miss Thing shouldn't feel threatened by four guys!"

"Oh, so you think she feels threatened by you three?" Oliver said to all of them. "That's bullocks and you know it!"

Katie opened her mouth to try and stop them from continuing, but Alicia and Angelina would have none of it.

"Oh open your eyes, Wood," Alicia snapped. "You know she can't stand us. It's amazing she hasn't asked you to kick us off the Quidditch team yet."

"She has a point." Katie mumbled from beside him. "Emily does tend to go to extremes to get her way."

"Now it's you, too?" Oliver looked at her disgustedly. "You know . . . ALL of you know . . . that I would never, ever do that to you three! And Emily isn't like that! So quit acting like you know her! You don't, got that?" Oliver stood up and was at the compartment door sooner than any of them could say something else to him.

"Do you really think that was necessary?" Katie asked barely coherent enough for Alicia and Angelina to hear.

"Think what was necessary? Telling him that he needed to open his eyes and realize that she isn't the angel he portrays her to be?" Angelina asked rhetorically. "Yes, I do."

"I don't think it was right, ganging up on him like that," Katie mumbled, "Did we really have to do it like that . . . there are other ways." She looked back out the window, continuing to be fascinated by the countryside rushing by.

"Sorry, Katie, but we can't all snog him like you seem to be able to do." The words flew out of Angelina's mouth and Katie took them like a slap to the face.

"I . . . I can't -- fine." Katie bolted up out of her seat and walked out of the compartment door and slammed the sliding door behind her.

"Angie, that was a bit harsh." Alicia agreed as she looked over at her best friend.

"I didn't mean to say that." Angelina admitted reluctantly. "It just . . . came out."

"Unfortunately, it did." Alicia now took up Katie's habit and stared out the window as the ride to Hogwarts remained quiet the whole way after that.

* * *

**Thats it! I hope you enjoyed! Let me know if you still want me to continue or not! **


	3. Iris

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter! This is just me having a little fun with something created by J.K. Rowling!**

**Rating: T. Although I think there are a few four letter words in this chapter that some people might find offensive. **

**Notes: Instead of wasting every one's time, I'll get right to the story! The thank yous are going to be at the end of the chapters from now on! I saw several people do that on their stories, and I like that way a little more.**

* * *

At the Welcoming Feast, Katie sat sandwiched in-between George Weasley and Jon Wright. They were sitting across from Jon's girlfriend, Iris. 

Iris Phillips was the type of Irish person people loved to stereotype. She had big, bright green eyes and beautiful, long auburn hair. She had delicate features and porcelain skin, which caused people quite some shock when they realized she wasn't some innocent angel she appeared to be. Apart from being beautiful, Iris was one of Katie's best friends outside of Quidditch and had moved from Enniskerry, Ireland to St. Andrews, Fife; not too far from Katie's parent's home in Crail.

"So, Kates, anything good happen in Crail while I was visiting my Grams back in Enniskerry?" Iris asked as she sipped her pumpkin juice.

"Oh, yes, Iris, you know Crail, the center of excitement in all of Fife." Katie laughed. "The only thing interesting was old Mrs. Shea's tabby fell off of the wall and nearly hit Mr. Briggs as he was getting some fish out of his boat."

"I was hoping you'd say it fell into the water." Iris admitted. "But, I bet ol' Briggs wasn't too happy 'bout that."

"He was fuming. Especially after the tabby got away with the largest it could carry. I think he chased that thing a near two kilometers down the road," Katie informed, "How was your Grams, by the way?"

"She was Grams. Telling me how in her day, she was married by now and expecting her first child." Katie laughed at Charlotte Phillips's constant pressuring of Iris to 'settle down' and now, after seeing a picture of Jon, insisted that Iris marry him on the spot. "I keep on telling her that it's not the early 1900s anymore. But, dad just says to leave her be."

Katie smiled as she looked down at the various items of food on her plate. "I have decided to become a vegetarian." She said aloud.

Iris, who had been placing a spoonful of mashed potatoes in her mouth, looked up at her friend in shock. She quickly swallowed and put her spoon down. "When did this come about?"

"Well, you know how my neighbor, Jemma Graem, is such a health nut." Iris nodded in agreement. "Well, I was over at her house the day before yesterday for Merlin knows why, and she started talking about animal cruelty and all that, and it occurred to me: Is it really necessary to kill animals to feed ourselves?" Katie continued, not expecting Iris to answer. "So, I haven't really thought more about it till now. And I think it isn't necessary to eat meat. There are protein substitutes."

"Now, this side of you is fascinating," Jon butted into the conversation after having been talking to Percy about unjust school rules.

Jon was a Seventh Year in the Gryffindor House. He stood a little over six feet, which made for quite a height difference between him and Iris, who was just about five foot four. He didn't play Quidditch on the house teams, but he was athletic and played some muggle sport --soccer-- during the summer holidays with his mates. With dark blue eyes and light brown hair --which he dyed constantly and was now shock white-- everyone had to admit Jon was very attractive, but very off limits.

"Shut it, Jon. Go back to your losing battle with Percy about alternating the curfew." Katie said with a roll of her eyes.

"It isn't about the curfew! It's about his incompetent bigheadedness!" Jon attempted to protest.

"Whoa. Big word. You're scaring us, Jonnie." Katie said sarcastically as Iris laughed.

"Oh, I'm hurt." Jon put his hand over his heart. "How will I survive?" He exclaimed dramatically.

"Aw." Iris leaned over the table and Jon met her halfway as she laid a brief peck on his lips.

"Much better!" Jon promptly turned and resumed his conversation with Percy as Lee joined in.

Iris smiled at his turned head before turning her head to face Katie. "So, I heard there are different types of vegetarianism. Which is it for you?"

"Not sure yet. You think Madame Promfrey would know anything about it?" Katie suggested.

"She is the nurse. I don't know. You can check." Iris shrugged. "So where are Alicia and Ange?"

Katie then looked down intently at the salad that formed on her plate. "I don't know." She looked up and leaned over the table and looked left and right, looking for a sign of the two. She found them four places down from her to the left. Alicia was closer to her direction and on the other side of Fred, who was beside some Sixth Year she couldn't recognize, who was by George, who was next to Katie. Oliver, on the other hand, was no where to be seen in either direction.

"What was it about?" Iris asked suddenly.

"What was what about?" Katie asked as she looked back at her friend.

"The spat with Alicia and Ange. Something's wrong, so spill." Her Irish friend demanded.

"It all started with Oliver and his sh--stuff. . . ," Katie began with a dramatic pause. "And, can I talk about it later in the dorm?"

"Ooh. Sounds serious. So, yes, we will continue this later." Iris smirked.

It wasn't long before the house prefects were leading them to Gryffindor Tower and informing them of the current password. The First Years left the group to go examine their new living arrangements and get acquainted with their roommates. Katie promptly plopped into an oversized chair by the fire and Iris joined her by sitting in the couch diagonal from the chair.

"I'm so bloody full." Iris groaned as she rolled her head backwards. "The elves outdid themselves. The mince meat pie was delicious!"

Katie ignored her statement. "Grr, I hope I don't have Snape too early in the day. Or with the Slytherins."

"No, it's best to get him early on. That way he won't be too bonkers by the time we get to him. First year we had him the very last period. It was ludicrous, remember. He was absolutely fuming and almost made Geraldine McQuerie, that Hufflepuff, wet herself with fright."

"How could I forget. Had to transfer to the States she did." Katie shook her head from side to side. "Hope they don't have arseholes for teachers like Snape."

"Just one more year, Kates. One more year." Iris said happily.

"Two counting this one." Katie grumbled.

"Ruin my happiness why don't you." Iris glared over at her friend.

Katie ignored this too as Alicia and Angelina walked in. They didn't look at her and she didn't look at them.

Iris was observant of this interaction --or lack of-- and jumped up out of her seat. "Lets walk to the library."

"The library? And what exactly happened to you over the summer?" Katie blinked rapidly.

"Just, c'mon. And we can talk about The Incident." At first Katie thought she was referring to the same incident Katie had dubbed The Incident, which was kissing Oliver. But, she realized Iris couldn't possibly know that, so she must be referring to her incident with Alicia and Angelina.

"Fine." Katie relented as Iris pulled her out of the chair and halfway through the Common Room.

Upon reaching the portrait hole, Iris released her and the portrait hole opened revealing Oliver and Lee, who must have been trailing behind.

"Ollywood! Hey!" Iris said greeting the Quidditch Captain with a hug.

"Iris. How's your mum?" Oliver asked casually.

"Still ecstatic about Connor's acceptance to play with Puddlemere." Yep. Iris's brother was the only person Katie had ever, and will ever, meet that was more obsessed with Quidditch than Oliver Wood. He had always wanted to play for the Chudley Cannons, but they weren't hiring at the moment, so he had tried out, and been accepted, for the Puddlemere United team.

"And she should be." Oliver smiled. It seemed he hadn't even noticed Katie yet.

"Yes, well, me and Katie here were about to take a walk. I'm sure you'll find some time to pester me about Connor some other time." Iris teased and turned to Lee.

"Don't I get a hug?" He said with a pout.

"You already got one." She stuck her tongue out at him and walked off, pulling Katie with her.

"Oi! Bell!" Oliver called and Katie looked over her shoulder, Iris still dragging her along. "We need to talk."

"Now?" Katie called skeptically.

"Common Room. At midnight" He said aloud in her direction.

"Fine." Katie called back and turned to Iris. "I assume the library trip is just to get me to open up about what happened between Alicia, Angelina, and myself. Am I right?"

Iris smirked and slowed down, falling into step with Katie. "Maybe." She couldn't keep a straight face as she said this.

"Twit." Katie muttered with a roll of her eyes. "Okay . . . it all started with the issue that Oliver is still dating Emily Bradshaw."

"What? No way! He's still with her?" Iris asked disgustedly. "I'm going to knock him in the head! It's just wrong! And -- he's still with her?"

"That's exactly the point we have been somewhat discreetly sliding his way." The Gryffindor Chaser told her friend and then added. "Until today." They paused at a staircase that started moving in the opposite direction than the one they wanted to go in. Iris looked at her in a 'I'm not going to interrupt you, so quit stalling' kind of way. "Okay, so Ange, Alicia and myself were in our compartment . . . " She paused. "Hey! Where were you on the train?"

"Ugh. Katie, it's Raine's first year. Mum made me promise to sit with her; you know how shy she is." Iris crossed her arms over her chest as she explained her situation with her younger sister. "Now, continue."

"Oh. That's right. Anyways," Katie shook her head as she got back on track. "We were sitting there, or, I was situated on the floor, where Alicia and Angelina had pushed me, when Oliver waltzed right on in, sans Emily." She took in a breath. "We talked. I got into a brief spat with Oliver about Quidditch being boring . . . blah blah blah. Fred and George dropped in, they made a suspicious comment about Emily. No, wait, Angelina made a comment about her. Sorry, it was bit rushed. Anyways, Oliver shunned that off, you know. We all continued to talk some until Fred and George ventured off to spy on Penelope and Percy and Emily found Oliver and wasn't too pleased that he was left alone in a compartment with us three -- not like we were all on top of him or anything, I might add."

Iris smirked at the thought of Alicia, Angelina, and Katie making Emily jealous by just being in the same compartment with Oliver. If this was what Emily was like, Iris couldn't wait to hear about the stories Katie would tell her about Emily and Quidditch practices with the now off the market Captain.

The stairway finally shifted back to the direction they were headed, and they resumed walking just as Katie resumed the story. "Okay, so off went Oliver and then we started talking about how long we expected them to last." She decided to leave out the betting part. "Ange said a month, Alicia two weeks, and I said it would last until the holidays. So, we didn't get to talk long, for Oliver somehow managed to pop back into our compartment, I still don't know how he eluded Emily. We talked some . . . blah blah blah. Fred and George came back in. Then the train stopped and everything went cold, you know all about that." Iris nodded. "It was absolutely freezing. Even with Oliver, it was brr --"

"What do you mean 'even with Oliver'?" Iris interrupted.

Oopsie. "Uhm, well, you see . . . it was cold and Oliver was just being nice. He only put his arm around me. Friendly gesture only." Katie shrugged.

"Uh huh." Iris nodded. "Keep going."

"Alright, well, that got over with, and the twins deserted to go find Ron and Harry, 'cause you know Harry is always the center for that kind of stuff --poor bloke. 'Licia and Ange went off to find the trolley, and had a run in with Emily herself, but that comes in later in this tale." Katie said as they turned a corner and happened to come across Percy.

"Where are you two going? It is the first night back. There is no reason for you to be out of the Tower." He said in his authoritive voice.

"We were just headed to the library, Percy. There is no harm in getting a head start on our lessons." Iris said innocently.

"You know how important our studies are." Katie said almost flirtatiously. "And me with Quidditch and all, I need all the extra practice I can get."

"You should have caught up with your studies over the summer, not the day before classes begin." Percy glared at them unrelentingly. "As my duty as Head Boy, I'm afraid I'll have to report this to one of the Professors."

Katie lowered her voice and pulled Percy's head down to where she could whisper in his ear. "Now, now, Percy, I believe that Fred and George have a recording between you and a certain Ravenclaw that you do not want anyone, specifically your mum, to hear." She pulled away and smiled at him before saying sweetly. "Now, what was that you said? I misunderstood."

"This is blackmail!" Percy hissed at Katie, who had an amused expression on her face.

"Don't use such negative terms, Percy. It's just a simple compromise." Katie shrugged it off as Iris laughed.

"Fine!" Percy said agitatedly. "Don't you dare send mum that tape!"

"I won't. But who said it's a tape?" Katie played with him some more. "Tapes can be destroyed too easily. And they're too muggle for Fred and George to understand."

Percy glared at them before stalking off.

Iris, who was collecting herself from laughing, looked at Katie. "Do tell, what was that about?"

"George and Fred recorded a conversation between dear Percy and Penelope Clearwater on the train. Quite disturbing from what the twins told me." Katie shuddered. "But, at least it can 'help' us out in some situations. At least situations involving Percy and Penelope."

"We can run them mad!" Iris exclaimed giddily. "It's too fun, I tell you. The idea of it!"

"And to think, the year has just begun!" The Chaser exclaimed just as happily.

So, they continued their walk to the library, Katie explaining the events that had happened on the train. From her Incident with Oliver (which had left Iris dumbfounded) to the argument with Alicia and Angelina that followed. By then, Iris's green eyes were fully lit up and Katie didn't quite know why.

"Look, you," Katie pointed to Iris, "what is going on in that brain of yours?"

"Katie! You are so blonde! Oliver likes you." She said staring Katie in the eyes.

"Well, I'm his friend, he better like me." Katie said, unfazed.

"No, you dolt, he is into you." Iris tapped the side of Katie's head. "Have you no brain?"

"I'm friends with you, aren't I?" Katie teased, ignoring her first comment.

"Katie, be serious. Or, try to be. Dear old Ollie is interested in you." She persisted.

"And I'm the Queen Mother." Katie deadpanned.

"Looking kinda young there, Madame." Iris countered. "Why else would he want to meet with you at one in the morning?"

"Hey, how'd you know about the midnight meaning one?" Katie asked her suspiciously.

"Oh please, I've known Fred and George long enough to know codes like the back of my hand." Iris raised an eyebrow at her. "Honestly, Katiekins, you think me that dumb?"

"No, but . . . agh, nevermind. Oliver does not like me, got that? Bottom line: Oliver does not like me, Katie. He has a girl anyway." The Gryffindor Chaser insisted as she gestured to herself and looked Iris in the eyes again.

"Katie Margot Bell, sometimes you are too stubborn for your own good." Iris did her impression of Katie's mother's 'Tut-tut'-ing.

"Oh, I can use your full name, too, Iris Megan Phillips. And must you be so persistent? I am not interested in Oliver and Oliver is not interested in me. Plain and simple." Katie replied.

"I am proud of my full name, thanks. So it doesn't bother me a bit that you call me by it." She cut her eyes with a sigh as she said the next bit. "And if you are so bloody set on not realizing your feelings for Ollywood, then fine. . . fine . . . fine. But one of these days it's going to hit you like wham! And I don't mean the wham-ing going on after you realize it." She added the last line lowly.

"IRIS! You did not just say that!" Katie's hands flew over her eyes. "You did not. Oh my --ack-- IRIS!" Katie removed her hands from her face and moved them about wildly. "Iris, Iris, IRIS!" Her hands flew back over her face, this time covering her mouth. She looked at Iris from the corner of her eyes. "You nasty, nasty, nasty wanker."

Iris was just simply laughing at Katie's reaction. "You could just act like, oh, every straight female in Hogwarts and at least think of being with Oliver, you know. The more you overreact, the more your hiding feelings." Iris said smugly.

"Ooh, so you fantasize about shagging Oliver now do you?" It was a weak comeback, but she just wasn't thinking clearly with the imagery of her and Oliver --- scratch that thought!

"I said every straight female. I'm as crooked as they come, babe." Iris said suavely, hardly containing her laughter.

"Yes, you would think I would know that after all these years." Katie feigned shock. Just as they approached the library doors, Katie turned around upon just realizing something. "The library isn't open on the first day back!"

"Nah, just realizing that? I only dragged you around the castle to get the dirt." Iris mentioned nonchalantly.

"No, you ditz, I knew you were planning that. But, Percy didn't mention anything! And you know he would have said something; even if I was threatening to blackmail him!" Katie's eyes widened incredibly. "Iris, Percy wasn't patrolling as Head Boy! He was going to meet someone!"

"Three guesses whom." Iris joined in the mock curiosity.

"I have a feeling their name begins with a 'P'." Katie hinted in a sing-song tone.

"And I'm sensing they are of his equal rank." The redhead smiled.

"Penelope Clearwater!" They both echoed together.

"Perhaps, continuing what was interrupted earlier on the train?" Katie guessed.

"Ew. I don't even _want _to know." Iris laughed.

"I'm tired." Katie suddenly yawned. "Bump Oliver and his stupid meeting. I'm going to sleep as soon as we get back to the dorm."

"Hm. It could be important!" Iris exclaimed as they began their venture back to Gryffindor Tower.

"Important? A conversation with Oliver important? I've never, ever paid attention during Quidditch talks. Why should I start now?" The Chaser arched her brow as she walked step-in-step with Iris.

"Oh, I dunno, Katie. Maybe because this isn't about Quidditch." Iris stressed, keeping the all-too-sweet grin on her lips.

"This is Oliver we're talking about, not some normal guy." Katie rolled her eyes at the thought.

"Oh, I think this is quite different. As in, you kissed him kind of different." The Enniskerry native hinted more thank obviously.

"Do you have to remind me? I had nearly forgotten." Katie lied. It had been plaguing her mind ever since it had happened. And the constant reminder of it every time she saw Oliver and now Iris's talking about it hadn't helped.

"That is my purpose in life, Kates. To remind you of every little thing you wish to forget!" Iris lightly pushed Katie on the shoulder.

Katie's face turned into a pout. "I bet that's a full timer." She said. "As I seemed to forget who I am supposed to be forgetting about forgetting."

Iris walked silently for a moment as a smirk creeped onto Katie's face, unbeknownst to Iris. "What the bleeding hell did that mean?" Iris said as she continued to think it over in her mind, and then eventually aloud. "Seemed to forget who your supposed to be forgetting about forgetting?"

"Oh, c'mon now! You are supposed to remind me what I forget. Don't tell me you have forgotten what that means?"

"I never knew what that meant in the first place." The redhead protested. "And I still don't. So, tell me what does it mean? Because this is starting to right out bother me!" She finished in frustration.

"Well, I can't exactly tell you can I? You are supposed to know. For it seems I have forgotten what it means, myself." Katie continued to confuse her best friend awfully.

"How can you forget that fast?" Iris complained. They walked to where the staircase was before Iris halted, causing Katie to do the same. "It was a bloody diversion! You bitch!"

"Wow, it seems you have finally figured out my logic and way of thinking. To think that you didn't get that from the start. Honestly, Iris, you are starting to disappoint." Katie shook her head in mock disbelief.

"You just didn't want me 'pestering' you about Oliver because you are concerned you'll slip up and admit your true feelings." The Irishwoman turned the diversion idea against Katie.

"Are you on acids? Iris, no, the diversion was not so I could concentrate on not admitting my feelings for Oliver because there are no feelings for Oliver as more than a friend. Okay?" They made their way to up the stairs. "Now, follow me here. I, Katie Bell, have nothing but friendship-like feelings for Oliver Wood. Nothing more. Do you follow?"

"I follow perfectly." Iris said tersely, almost making Katie wish she had said more. For, it was a very suspicious answer if you really knew Iris Phillips well, and Katie did.

"That's it? No comeback argument? Are you ill?" The Chaser looked sideways at her friend as they continued to climb the stairs up to the tower.

"I don't feel like continuing trying to convince you of something you refuse to admit to yourself." Iris nodded at Katie with a smile. "Keeping the peace and saving my breath. I'm becoming quite the multitasker."

Katie and Iris were now at the Fat Lady. "Good evening, dearies. Coming back from a rendezvous with some fine lads, are you?" She asked somewhat mischievously.

"Oh, no, madame. My guy is in Gryffindor. We just went to the library, and then realized it was closed. How could we forget!" Iris said in her special tone reserved for adults who she wanted to feign innocence with.

"Getting ahead in your studies, that's smart girls." the Fat Lady said, the conversation ending as Katie told her the password.

* * *

**Another chapter finished! I've got several more written, I'm just seeing how everyone takes to the story before posting them. For, this might be my last post before I go on vacation. Not sure. Depends on the feedback I get before Sunday! On to the thank yous :**

**Hippielover459: I'm happy you like their personalities! **

**clumsyfaery: Glad you like the story! I'm very, very happy that I'm getting some positive reviews!**

**Ginny Zambini: You used my favorite word ever! Awesome! Yay. Someone used that word to describe my story!**

**Kath Kruger: I'm going to continue! I hope this update is fast enough for you!**

**Eruaphadriel: Yes, Alicia and George do make a good pair. But, I'm not going to give anything away on whether they get together or not! I'm happy to have you as a reviewer and hope you like this chapter!**

**My Taste of Ink: You won't believe that I was typing up these thank yous just as I got your review! You said to update fast, so I hope this is quick enough!**

**TheBrassPotato: You think it has potential? Thank you much! And I will continue! I have uploaded several future chapters! Now all I need is reviews! **

**GoogleCorelli: Yeah, I figured with these characters I could maybe get a little bit of their personality right. I was afraid the dialogue wouldn't be good enough, but thanks for the reassurance!**

**Giddyupgal: Oh yay! I'm glad you think I've improved. Your first review really did help me a lot. And I don't know whyI made the cake lime. Something different I suppose!**

**Thank you all very much! Another review from all of you would make me very happy! Marie**


	4. Common Room Revelations

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter!**

**Rating: I think this Chapter actually earns the T rating! There is a scene with a bit of language towards the end!**

**Note: I was (and still am) kind of groggy when I edited and wrote most of this, so please forgive me if it isn't that interesting or if there are any mistakes! If you just let me know of any errors, I'll edit them ASAP! Ok, enough of that . . . on to the story . . . **

* * *

Entering the Common Room, the girls noticed that it was still quite full. Fred, George, Lee, and Jon sat near the fire, Lee in the same seat Katie had occupied earlier. There was a few other groups in the younger years scattered about, chatting about their summer experiences and a few gossiping already with the 'latest' news in Hogwarts. Alicia, Angelina, nor Oliver seemed to be around. But, Katie spotted Harry, Hermione and Ron and parted with Iris as she went to go see how her teammate was.

"Harry! Ron! Hermione! Have a fun summer holiday?" Katie called as she strolled over to the group.

"'Ello, Katie." Harry said as he greeted his teammate. "Usual with the Dursleys. Don't want to talk about it."

"Understandable. Ron? Hermione? What about you?" Katie took a seat beside Ron.

"Fred and George used me as a guinea pig for Weasley Wizard Wheezes. It was god-awful, it was. Awful!" Ron complained. "With the Ton-tongue Toffees and the --"

"It couldn't have been that bad --"

"Katie!" Alicia interrupted as her and Angelina came down from their dormitory.

"Time has run short," Katie sighed as her eyes rolled skyward. "I will catch up with you later." She smiled happily before turning to face the approaching Alicia and Angelina.

"Katie, Ange here," Alicia tugged on Angelina's arm, "has something to say to you about earlier."

Katie crossed her arms over her chest and arched an eyebrow at her fellow Chasers before turning a more direct gaze upon Angelina. When Angelina was silent, Alicia cleared her throat and gave Angie another jerk.

"Oh. I'm not good with apologies." Angelina said in a rush toward Alicia before looking at Katie. "Back on the train, I shouldn't have used what happened between you and you know against you, alright. I apologize for what I said, Katie. Forgive me?" She looked at the woman standing across from her expectantly. Although, not sure what to be expectant of.

"Angelina, you were completely out of line with what you said, yes. And it's true you didn't know the extent of what had actually happened. But, you are one of my best friends . . . and yes I forgive you. And I fully accept your apology," Katie smiled wholeheartedly.

"Brilliant!" Alicia threw an arm over Angelina's shoulder before drawing Katie over closer to them and slinging her other arm around her shoulders. "Nothing will ever, ever make us argue again! Or come between us!" Just as the words flew out of her mouth, there came a huge outburst from where Fred, George, Lee, Jon, Oliver (who had appeared out of no where it seemed), and two others, a Seventh Year Keith Addams and a Sixth Year, Orlando Pryce. Whatever the commotion resulted in Jon and Oliver standing face to face with Keith and Orlando, unmistakenly outraged.

"I'll rip your fucking head off!" Jon yelled, apparently directed at Keith. "Shut your fucking mouth or I'll do it, Addams!"

"Jon!" Iris, who after entering the common room had gone to see her sister, Raine, called to her boyfriend as she came into view.

"Idle threats, Jonnie boy!" Keith said, sneering at the man who met his height almost exactly. "Do you think I honestly believe that you are anything but talk!"

Jon smiled and nodded pleasantly. "Course not, Keith." He said in a laughing tone before looking downwards for a brief second. When he looked up, he had a huge grin on his face and his right fist promptly raised up and hit Keith hard across his face, causing him to reel backwards. "I still don't see how you got into Gryffindor, though. Bit daft in the head, I think."

"Jon! What the fuck do you think you are doing!" Iris had finally came over to him and tugged on his sleeve. "It's the first day back and all you can find to do is fight!" She turned to the rest of the group, focusing mainly on Oliver, since he had stood with Jon, "And you all! Letting this happen! You're no better!"

"Oi, shut your yap!" Orlando said disgustedly. "You ain't no saint either."

"Right. That's why I've very well heard, according to Jeannie, what you are --ehm--aren't, packing." Iris stared at Orlando, daring him to retaliate, but he didn't. Instead he muttered several curses and turned to go toward his dormitory.

"Well then," Fred stood up to address the audience that had formed, "I'm sure the lower years are quite enjoying this enlightening experience."

The group chose to ignore his comment. "Look, Iris, he said--" Jon started explaining but Iris arched her brow telling him she wanted to hear none of it. _Not even out of Hogwarts and she's got me whipped. Agh, things that people do for women! _He thought to himself.

"Fucking prats." Keith sneered, swinging nearly blindly at Oliver, who simply leaned backwards some to avoid the poorly calculated blow.

"'Eh, if you plan on picking a fight, at least be able to aim!" The Quidditch captain teased.

Keith smirked. "How good a lay is Emily, by the way? I could ask half of Hogwarts, but, I'd prefer to hear your answer." He laughed at the comment, and Katie almost wanted to laugh with him if it had been a different situation.

Oliver lifted his left hand to connect with Keith's body, but Lee caught his arm before contact was made. "Let it go, Oliver." The Quidditch Commentator instructed as he pulled him away from Keith.

Keith laughed and walked away from the crowd. Iris looked disapprovingly at Jon before dragging him over to an isolated table in the corner of the room.

"Oi! Everyone back to their own business!" George announced to the crowd who surprisingly obeyed. A few first years looked at the older Gryffindors with curiosity, but Angelina scowled at them and they went back to talking about things only first years would find amusing. Well, first years and Fred and George if they weren't already too preoccupied with the situation at hand.

"Anyone mind telling us, what the bloody hell he said to piss you fellows off so much?" Alicia demanded, stalking over to the group, Angelina and Katie hot on her heels.

"Nothing." The group of boys echoed together loudly, 'causing the lower years to turn and look at them again.

"Oi! Nothing to see here!" Alicia snapped impatiently at them. This time they glared at her before turning around to tend their own business.

"It had to be something!" Angelina placed her hands on her hips as she stared at each of them, trying to pry the answers out of them with her deadly glare. "Lee?" She inquired towards the dreadlock wearing Gryffindor first. When nothing was said she stared at the twins, "Fred? George?" The twins were about to open their mouths and blab to save themselves from the torture that would follow if they didn't fess up, when Lee bumped into Fred, which caused him to bump into George, silencing the pair. "Fine. Jon?" The Chaser asked Iris's mock Billy Idol blond boyfriend, who had his arm draped around Iris's shoulder and was standing a little bit out of the circle of friends.

"Yeah, Jon, what happened?" Iris asked in a sugary sweet voice with an 'you're-in-for-it-if-you-don't-tell-us' undertone.

"I . . . I can't tell you." He hung his head and untangled himself from Iris and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Okay, fine. Oliver, last chance. Spill it." Katie took over with a death glare of her own.

"The fucking bastard said something. That's what happened." He replied honestly, but vaguely.

"Well, that helps." Iris threw her hands up in defeat. "You know, it wouldn't kill you to tell us! That's Harry's department!"

Harry turned around at that and looked at Iris oddly. "Hey!" He said, a bit offended. "I can't help it, you know."

"Sorry Harry. Bad example." Iris said in a nicer tone to the Boy-Who-Lived before turning back to the crowd of uncooperative boys. "So you don't wanna tell us, fine." She slightly smiled. "At least Jon got a good swing in."

This lightened the mood and everyone seemed to smile at Jon and remembered the shot he had taken at Keith. "Since when did he become such an arsehole?" Katie mused aloud.

_The change of subject isn't going to lighten the wraththat Jon is going to have to endure if he doesn't tell me what that was all about sometime soon. _Iris thought, but continued to pay attention to the current conversation.

"Since he's Flint's cousin." Fred informed. "Or so we just found out."

Katie stiffened at the mention of Marcus Flint's name, as did every girl in the group. Jon felt a change in his girlfriend's demeanor, but chose to ignore it. For now. "F-Flint. As in Marcus Flint. As in Slytherin Marcus Flint?" Alicia queried, her eyes becoming equivalent to teacups.

"Yes," The twins replied in unison. "The same Marcus Flint."

"Then how in Merlin's name did Keith get into Gryffindor with a cousin like Marcus Flint?" Katie demanded, leaning against the back of a chair.

"Good question." Lee pondered something in his mind for a moment, before saying it aloud to the group. "D'ya think he fooled the hat. Kinda like Harry --"

"Oi!" Harry called over his shoulder. "Quit using me as an example already!" He turned around before briefly turning back and adding, "And I can't help it that the Sorting Hat wanted to put me into Slytherin!"

"Sorry Harry! It just seemed, I dunno, relevant." Lee called to the Gryffindor Seeker, before turning his attention to his assembled friends, "Now where was I . . . oh yes . . . Maybe he was in the same situation as someone we know and will refrain from naming. So, he argued with the hat, perhaps. Didn't wanna be in Slytherin. The House's rep isn't what you'd call pleasing."

Oliver finally spoke up, "Or it could have been the other way around. Maybe he wanted to be in Slytherin, but the Hat had other ideas. And so, Keith lost the argument, and viola, here he is in Gryffindor."

"Yeah, sorry guys, but the problem with your theory is that Keith has been our friend for the past five or so years. Why pick now to become a total wanker?" Angelina offered, adding more views to the argument.

"That's a good point." Lee agreed. "Oh well. I'm stuffed." Lee patted his stomach. "Time for inducting the first years."

_Finally, a lighter subject. _Was almost exactly the thoughts of every person in the room.

"Don't do anything too awful, now." Katie warned in a purposely motherly tone.

"Yes mummy dearest." Fred, George, and Lee echoed in an innocent tone that would be believable if they weren't who they were. On that note, they skipped off to where almost all the first years sat huddled talking amongst themselves.

"Jon, Oliver, going to join in on the planned activities?" Iris asked her boyfriend and the Quidditch Captain.

"Nah, not me. Wood?" Jon asked Oliver, making Katie roll her eyes.

_They know each other for years, yet they still insist on occasionally addressing each other by their last name. Ridiculous. Stupid. And 100 men-ish. Absolutely 100 Oliver Wood and Jon Wright. I mean, I understand when Oliver is being all Quidditch Captain-y and teasing, but during a normal conversation? Pfft. _Katie's thoughts concluded as Oliver gave his response.

"I think I'll skip it. Our luck Percy will walk right in the midst of it." He then quickly added, "Not that I care what he thinks. Or that I'm scared of him. . . I just have to live with him for the rest of the school year."

"Doubt he'll be walking in on them, mate." Iris quipped, followed by a laugh coming from Katie.

"Mind filling us in?" Jon asked as he took his seat on the couch. Iris followed suit and Alicia sat on the other side of Iris. Katie took a seat on the smaller couch beside Oliver, leaving Angelina to a seat of her own, being that Alicia, Angelina, and Oliver still hadn't quite made up. Then again, neither had Katie and Oliver, but neither seemed to mind.

"On the way to the library --" Iris began, soon to be interrupted.

"Whoa, whoa. That's where you were going? _You _were going to the library?" Oliver asked dumbfounded. "Are you possessed? Jon, you're girl is possessed, mate."

"Shut up, Ollywood." This withdrew what sounded like a low growl from Oliver, which Katie was only able to notice, and she had to restrain herself from laughing. "As I was saying. Me and Katie were on our way to the library when we ran into Percy. He was off to meet . . . no surprise here . . . Penelope Clearwater. The Head Girl."

"Merlin, the teasing they must endure." Angelina laughed. To which Jon whispered something in Iris's ear that made her pinch him and exclaim, "Jonathan Wright!" Loudly while still being able to giggle.

"Oh my. _That _I don't wanna know, ladies and gents." Alicia rolled her eyes and shake her head. There was laughter, and then a silence, to which Alicia cleared her throat. "Oliver," She got the attention of the Keeper, "Angelina and I have something to say to you."

"W-we do?" Angelina was caught off guard.

"We do." Alicia repeated in statement form.

"Oh. We do." The darker Chaser nodded her head. "I think it goes along the lines of . . ."

"We apologize." They finished in unison.

"We were out of line--" Alicia started

"--our opinion only--" Angelina continued.

"--we didn't mean to offend you--"

"--although we know we did--"

"--and our friendship is nothing to waste--"

"--over something as childish as that--"

"--even though you are a maniac--" This earned Alicia an odd look from the Quidditch Captain as he waited for her to continue, which Angelina did.

"--and a complete slave-driver--" More odd looks this time directed at Angie.

"--when it comes--"

"--to Quidditch." They finished together, smiles on their faces.

"Oh my! Fred and George reincarnated!" Iris exclaimed. "Well, if they were dead. Which . . . they _aren't_. But . . . oh, continue."

After everyone got over Iris's odd comment, they turned their attention back to Oliver, who was silent and had a serious look on his face.

"Ollie! C'mon now! We looove you oh so very much." They drawled pitifully.

"Well lets see . . . " Oliver pretended to stroke his jawline thoughtfully. "You are annoying." Alicia and Angelina narrowed their eyes playfully at him. "Opinionated. Ridiculously annoying, let me amend myself. Brilliant Chasers, and completely in love with two of my best friends. Hmm."

"Oliver Wood!" Alicia exclaimed before jumping out of her seat and launching herself onto Oliver; she was soon joined by Angelina.

"Innocent bystander here!" Katie tried to wiggle away from her friends who insisted upon pouncing on Oliver at the mention of their crushes on Fred and George.

_Wait. Angelina doesn't like Fred. Well, she's acting like. . . oh my! How could I miss it! Oliver set the bait and she fell for it! Best idea he's had in years. Mwahaha. Angelina likes Fred, Alicia likes George, Iris is with Jon, Oliver is with -_cringes- _Emily, Lee is with Paige Reynolds. If the Alicia/George and Angelina/Fred relationships pan out, I'll be the only single on in this little group. Well, considering everyone stays together. Iris and Jon are pretty serious from the looks of it. I don't know about Oliver and Emily. He's fond of her and all, but some things he said on the train. Well, some things he muttered. Lee . . . Lee's relationships are never serious. But there is a first time for everything._ -insert pout here-_ I need a man. Cedric Diggory is currently available, I think. So is Roger Davis. Roger is alright, never bothered to get to know him. He is a rival in Quidditch. So is Cedric. I don't know him at all. I only know him from Quidditch. Well, mum does know his mum. But that's our mums, not us. There are plenty of Hogwarts singles. Right? I mean, it's not like I'm interested in Cedric and Roger just because they are attractive! This talking to myself can't be healthy. Well, thinking to myself. And how else am I supposed to think if not to myself? Oh Merlin, I'm arguing with myself. That's classic, Katie._

She was jolted from her thoughts when Alicia winded up in her lap. "Omph." She grunted.

Alicia was laughing, not bothering to move, as she watched Angelina continue her assault on their Quidditch Captain from the comment that had ensued this whole thing. "Oi! Oliver Wood is getting bested by a girl!" Lee called from his spot in the middle of the First Years, persuading them to do some nonsense task.

"Oomph. Angelina!" Were a few of the grunts heard from the captain. The Common Room simply laughed and all those except for the First Years remembered why the loved Hogwarts so much.

* * *

**Well, it's late now and I am super tired, so I'm not going to write out the individual thank you notes that I normally like to do. But, thanks to pixie ears and swimgirl for reviewing! So, that's all there is to say! Oh! Well, after this chapter I have two options for this story: The first one being that I continue it how I planned with bunches of fights and drama. The second being I go in another direction and try and make this a light story! I really need some feedback on this! Because I have a few ideas for each! Ok, well, just review and let me know what you think! Bye for now! **


	5. Letters From The Family

**Disclaimer: I do not own! This was all created by J.K. Rowling! **

**Rating: Same T rating. Little bit of language in this chapter. Nothing that hasn't been said in this story before.**

**Note: I apologize for not updating sooner. I've just been too caught up in getting ready for school (4 more days of summer holidays left!) and reading and re-reading the latest Harry Potter book! But, on with the story . . . **

* * *

It was well past midnight when everyone began settling down. Fred, George, and Lee had convinced the First Years to sneak down to the third floor bathrooms and plant dungbombs in the perimeter. When they disappeared less that ten minutes after the group had returned, it didn't take a genius to figure out that they had only used that as a diversion for a bigger plot for themselves.

Angelina had finally relented on attacking Oliver and had made him promise, and everyone else that had overheard, that they were to say nothing to Fred or anyone else. Alicia joined in on it too, except to protect her crush on the other Weasley.

Exhausted, the four girls had retired to their dormitory. Katie completely forgetting her meeting with Oliver. It wasn't like her life revolved around whether or not she talked to him or not.

As they made their way to their new Sixth Year dormitory, it didn't take them long to recognize the locations of their belongings: Katie's bed was near the window, across from her was Alicia. Next to Alicia was Angelina, and Iris was beside Katie. Their fifth roommate, Camille Lorite, was on the other side of Iris, making the room off balance in a pleasant way.

Camille's privacy curtains opened slightly, revealing a platinum blonde with strait, glossy shoulder length hair that hadn't been affected by the little sleep she had gotten by then."Allo Ange, Leesh, Kate, Iris." Camille said groggily. "Good ter seeya." She muttered before the curtains dragged shut and she resumed her state of slumber.

"Hey Cam." They all chorused as they went to their own beds and opened their trunks. Each girl sifting through theirs until they found their night clothes. Angelina and Iris were the first into the dormitory bathroom which had two separate showers, toilets, and joined sinks. Which might have worked for 5 girls fifty years ago, but didn't quite cut it in this day and age. At night and in the morning showers and make-up applications were always rushed. Except on the days Alicia, Angelina, and Katie had to be up before daybreak for Quidditch. Then it was less hectic for Iris and Camille, but for the three Chasers, one was always rushing in the end.

Alicia and Katie sat leaning against Katie's bed, their heads leaning in towards each other, about to fall asleep right there. "'What electives are you taking again?" Katie murmured barely coherently.

"Got Muggle Studies because of my grandparents, half and half remember. Divination, because_all_ you have to do is predict doom, be utterly fascinated by Trelawney, and pretend to give a flying fuck."

"Language Leesh!" Camille muttered loudly. "Give a girl nightmares with that word under certain circumstances."

Katie and Alicia laughed before Alicia concluded. "Oh, and Arithmancy."

"Oh. Now I remember. We only have one class together. Damn." She sighed. "For some unknown reason to me I signed up for Ancient Runes. I must have been on drugs back then. Followed up with Care of Magical Creatures. Then Divination with you and that loon! Drugs I tell you, mate."

"They'll try to drive us mad by giving us Snape first thing! Or either the end of the day." Alicia groaned. "Murderous Professors." At that note Camille grumbled for a moment unheard by the two Chasers. "Speak up Cam!" She called.

"I said," She flung the privacy curtain to the side, "that if you two don't shut it about classes, I'm going to knock you off your bloody brooms the next time I get a chance!" She wasn't seriously angry, just a little grumpy over being woken up repeatedly.

"Hey, hey. Calm down. Just trying to stay awake here." Katie said as she peeped around the corner of her bed to see Camille in her scarlet tank top and golden short shorts, the nightclothes similar to what the other girls had; the styles and lengths varying from girl to girl.

"Typical. I'm trying to sleep, and you are trying to stay awake." Camille sighed. "I take it Iris and Ange are in the showers and you two ladies are waiting for them to get out?"

"Got it in one." Alicia smiled. "Care to join in our nonsense talk?"

"No, I'll go back to my nonsense dreams." Camille said as she looked at the two sitting on the floor and tut tutted like a mother or older sister. "See you bright and early when the battle of the morning showers ensue." She waved and padded back over to her bed. Alicia and Katie heard her pull the curtains back and sat in silence until the door opened and amidst the steam flooding out of the room, Angelina and Iris came out of the bathroom. They had clearly magicked their hair dry and had to have broken a record getting a shower and washing their faces.

"All yours chicas." Iris covered her mouth as she yawned. She pulled her red hair back into a messy bun with a scrunchi afterwards. She made her way past Katie and Alicia to her bed. "I will see you ladies in the mo-oorn-ing." The last word was drawn out by a huge yawn.

"Night." They said quietly so not to disturb Camille anymore than they needed to.

Angelina pushed her three quarter length striped Gryffindor colored shirt sleeves up some as she gave Alicia and Katie a pat on the head. "Night kids." She trotted to her bed and the whoosh of her and Iris's curtains were heard. Katie and Alicia looked at one another and bounded into the bathroom, clothes in tow.

* * *

The next morning during breakfast, everyone was casually chatting about. There was already some gossip floating about, but no one really paid any attention. The morning mail came in, dropping letters about. Katie recognized her mother and father's nearly pitch black owl upon the various colors of brown and the few white owls that flew in. "Muse." She acknowledged the owl as it flew overhead, dropping a letter neatly next to her porridge and toast as another unfamiliar owl dropped another one directly atop her head. Angelina, who was sitting next to her, got two letters also, and her subscription of The Daily Prophet. The Prophet's owl dove low and Angelina fished out the amount of money due and put it in the appropriate pouch. 

"Oh. Mum and Gamma sent me a letter." Angelina said happily as she put the Prophet aside and looked at her letters.

"Surprise, surprise." Katie glanced at her letters. "One from Mummy dearest and one from Mischa."

"Oh, how is Mischa?" Angelina queried about Katie's older sister who lived in the magical side of Sydney, Australia.

"Dunno. Looks like I'm about to find out." Katie eagerly opened up the letter and read to herself:

_Katie Kates-_

_Hey little sister! By now you should be at Hogwarts! I hope the train ride was safe and that the disappearance of that Sirius Black hasn't interfered with the school plans. Oh, fuck, that was the mother in me. So, kick anyone's arse lately? Heard about you and that Darla girl getting into it at the start of the summer holidays. Mum said it was inappropriate. I said as long as you won, it was appropriate. Enough of that! Hon, I've got news! And I mean out of this world news! Last night, or three nights ago if I calculated the time it takes for Lithium to travel -- and, yes, I am aware what Lithium is before you ask, you bugger--okay, more importantly, Dean proposed! I am going to be Mrs. Dean Elliot! Mischa Elliot! Kates, I can't express how ecstatic I am! That's not even the best part! I'm pregnant, Kates! And, Dean doesn't know yet. That isn't why he proposed, before you jump to conclusions. According to the doctor at the local wizard clinic, I'm about seven weeks along. You would think I'd have figured it out by now, huh? Dense I am. But, you're the first person I've told. So don't tell mum or dad until I tell them. I really want to go see them sometime soon, but, I don't even have the time to appeariate over to Scotland and back. The Australian Ministry is kinda strict as of late. What do they think Sirius is gonna do? Up and hop a wave Down Under? That's why I'm so busy. Stupid me wanting to be in the Department of Magical Transportation. Got us watching every floo network in Australia to add to the stress of keeping it secret from the Muggles. And in New Zealand for that matter! New Zealand! Even they have their own Ministry! As small as it may be! Oh well. Oop. I've gotta go! I have a presentation in about forty minutes with the Minister. Just got us a new one, actually. Daniel Wyatt. I don't like him. I wishCotts wouldn't have retired. Lots of loves to you sis! Oh, tell your friends hey! Especially Angelina, Alicia, and Iris. Oh! And, tell Angelina I saw Cliff the other day. I didn't know he was in Australia. Okay, really gotta run now. Love you!_

_-Mischa_

"Flying fuck!" Katie said a little too loudly, receiving looks from her neighbors and a few from the next table over.

"Jeez, Katie, keep quiet! What is it?" Angelina asked looking at her friend shockingly.

"Mischa's getting married to Dean!" She responded, quieter than she had said earlier.

"That's brilliant, Kates. Is he that hottie that was at your house last Christmas?" Ange smiled curiously.

"Yes, and he's very much taken." Katie told her sweetly.

"Oh, shut up. I was only asking to get a picture of them together in my mind. She's had more than one boyfriend, you know." The other Chaser rolled her eyes.

"Said she saw Cliff the other day. What's he doing down in Australia?" The Chaser with the lighter hair took a quick bite of her buttered toast.

"Hm. Must have been just to visit. He's still living in Blackpool with a few of his mates." Angelina shrugged at the mention of her brother. "Him and mum are on the outs again. When aren't they." She rolled her eyes upwards. "None of us like Karl." Angelina elaborated, referring to her step-dad. "Cliff is just a bit more vocal about it, that's all. I mean, can you imagine Liz or Tasha standing up an' telling mum that Karl is a 'fucking gold-digger who can't even get it up properly' and I didn't hear the rest. Don't think I want to." Angelina was slightly laughing now.

"How are Liz and Tasha anyways?" Katie recalled the last time she had seen Angelina's five year old twin sisters at the beginning of last summer at the pickup at Kings Cross.

"Right before I got on the train, Tasha flipped me off." Angelina laughed. "I think she's seen me do that behind Karl's back too many times. Hope she doesn't rat me out if she gets caught. She probably doesn't even know what it means. Liz is as quiet as ever. I don't know how! With Cliff and me as older siblings! I think she's going to end up being a Professor or somethin'." Angie laughed. "So, Mischa is getting married. Wowza. What about your younger sister?"

"Gwen . . . what is there to say about Gwen? She is just the ideal child." She muttered sarcastically. "She is going through 'everything is Katie's fault' stage. And mum believes her! Dad doesn't really, he's a bit more strict." She rolled her eyes. "Well, as strict as someone can be on a three year old."

"I sympathize with you, Kates, I do. Remember, I had two little sisters going through that phase at the same time. Tasha was awful!" Angelina resumed reading an article she found particularly fascinating about a band in the muggle world that was actually composed of a few people with magical heritage. "Oi, did you know James Iha of the Smashing Pumpkins is half and half? Apparently he's a squib though."

"Hm. I would have expected if anyone in there was of magical heritage it would have been that Billy Corgan guy." Katie laughed. The Smashing Pumpkins were Angelina's favorite band due to Angelina's exposure to the Muggle world. And Katie had to admit that their album Siamese Dream was pretty great. That was about her extent of the fascination with the Smashing Pumpkins. And what kind of name was that anyway? Smashing Pumpkins? Ha!

"Actually . . . " Angelina began.

"I don't care, Ange." The blonde-ish Chaser cut her off as she began opening the letter from 'Mrs. Fiona Bell'.

"Absolutely no taste in music. None at all." The other girl tut tutted. "Go on, read your letter. I will just sit here all alone in my musical admiration." She feigned sadness and began looking intently at the article as Katie rolled her eyes and began reading.

_Dear Katie-_

_I tend to not keep you long, but I just thought I'd let you know that I want you to be extra careful this year at Hogwarts. No more risky pranks and such with those Weasley twins . . . and yes I know well of them and of the pranks you and your friends tend to pull at school. You know good and well that things are shook up a bit in our world, and I don't want you endangering yourself or anyone else. Please focus on your studies. I cannot stress that enough, darling. Quidditch isn't life. It is a sport. I don't want any daughter of mine faltering in her studies just to concentrate more on that sport! I want you prepared for the real world just as you should be when the time comes to leave Hogwarts and move on into a promising career. _

_On another note, I'm sure you have received Mischa's letter. It's quite shocking the thought of having a son-in-law. I am exceedingly happy for her, as you should be too. Dean is nice enough, even if I don't understand his politics. She wasn't clear on if the engagement is going to be a short one or if it will be another year or so before they marry. I do hope they wait. With marriage comes kids, and I'm not sure I'm prepared for the role of a grandmum. Honestly, Gwen is only three! Imagine the confusion of having an Aunt a little bit older than you. That is, if they have kids immediately. But, in case Mischa decides to have the wedding soon, I want you to be on top of things in Hogwarts in case you need to take leave for the wedding. But, we aren't at that phase yet, so just carry on as usual. _

_Your father sends his love and also requests that Gryffindor win the cup this year. And I wish you well on that endeavor too. Gwen loves you and looks forward to seeing you during the Holidays. Be good._

_Love,_

_Mum_

"Hmph. Usual stuff." Katie muttered before sipping her pumpkin juice. "Anything other that the magical side of the Smashing Pumpkins in that newspaper?"

"Hm. Just some world news, weather, Quidditch standings. Odds and ends, you know." Angelina said nonchalantly, still engrossed in the article.

"Great day, Ange, it's just a band!" Katie rolled her eyes at the attention Angelina gave that band when any news came about. "

"Right. Just a band who I find intriguing." Katie's friend replied.

Katie laughed before noticing how other students were beginning to leave the Great Hall to go get their things, or for those who carried their stuff with them, were heading to class already.

"I'm going to get my books. Do you want me to grab anything for you?" The blonde Chaser announced.

"Nope, got my stuff right here." Angelina indicated her carrying bag next to her chair as she lifted it slightly up off the ground, still keeping her eyes on the article.

"Okay, well I'll see you later in Transfiguration." They exchanged their good-byes and Katie left the Great Hall alone as Angelina sat reading her article and the majority of her other friends sat scattered about the Gryffindor Table.

Katie had only managed to make her way to the first flight of stairs leading to the Gryffindor Tower, when someone called her name.

* * *

**Three guesses who it is!**

**And thanks to goodybad for reviewing! **

**R & R and I'll be very happy and update quickly! **

**-PiscesWeb25-**


	6. Win Some, Lose Some

**Lalala. Here is the next chapter! School started today, so updates will either be unaffected or either come a little bit later than normal. I still haven't quite figured out how these classes will change my usual schedule!**

**Disclaimer: I think I have made it clear that I most certainly do NOT own anything associated with Harry Potter**

**A/N: After reading Harry Potter & the Half Blood Prince, I have realized that Katie should actually only be a year ahead of Harry! Well, it is much to late to amend that in my story! So, sorry if it's a lot off having her _two_ years ahead of what she should be! **

**Rating: -T- Okay kids. Lots of bad language in this one. As well as some mild, yet not graphic, violence! **

* * *

"Katie!" It was the pesky voice of none other than Emily Bradshaw and Katie wanted nothing more than to stun the life out of her. _Why does she insist on popping up every time someone has the false hope that she has vanished from the earth?_

"Emily." Katie said in a cordial tone. "Hi." She purposely made her tone unwelcome as she turned around from the top of the stairs to look down at Emily as she approached.

"Have you seen Oliver this morning?" The Hufflepuff queried.

"Why, no Emily I haven't." She decided to not stop there and vent her frustration towards the blonde, "Where Oliver is and when he is there is none of my business, for I am not his keeper. Just because I am in the same house as Oliver doesn't mean I know his whereabouts. So how about go and ask someone like Jon or Percy where Oliver is. They see him in the mornings before he leaves the dormitory, not me. Or better yet, why not buy him a bell to hang around his neck? Then you could hear him coming a mile away." Katie snapped at the annoying Hufflepuff that stood before her.

Emily scowled and looked at her like she was the foulest thing in the whole castle. "Why should I buy him a bell when he practically has one hanging all over him as it is?" She sneered, making a pun on Katie's last name.

"Extremely funny Emily. Honestly, if I was ten years less mature, I'd be having me a great laugh." Katie narrowed her eyes at the other woman.

"You think you're so above me, do you? It's quite the other way around, actually. You just envy me, Katie. You envy my popularity, my friends, my boyfriend. You're. Just. Jealous." Emily said, proud with herself and hopingly pissing off Katie, for she saw Oliver coming down the stairs and wanted Katie to make a move to harm her.

Katie took a few steps downwards to where she was only a few steps above Emily. "Listen, bitch, your popularity is based purely on how many people in the castle you've slept with. You are just hot gossip that won't go away. I have more friends than you could fucking imagine. And as far as being envious of you and Oliver . . . grow up. Oliver is my friend. How the fuck he ended up with you, I don't know. But, unlike you, I can have a male friend without wanting to fuck him. So shut your bloody mouth and get the bleeding hell away from me." She ended in a final tone. "Don't fuck with me or you'll regret it dearly."

Oliver quickened his pace down the stairs to get to the girls before something happened. "Was that a threat?" Emily asked innocently.

"It's a promise." Katie assured, not caring how cliché it sounded.

"Emily! Katie!" Oliver said as he finally reached them. "What's going on?"

"She threatened me!" Emily pointed an accusing finger at Katie, who just cocked her head to the side and smirked as she made her way completely down the stairs.

"Do something about it, love." Katie teased in a soft tone.

"Agh!" Emily threw herself at Katie, but Oliver, thanks to his Keeper reflexes, was able to prevent her from making any contact.

Katie had anticipated Oliver's interference at that point, and hadn't even bothered to move out of the same spot she had been holding for the past few seconds. She looked at Emily displeasingly. "That's all you've got? How disappointing."

"Shut up, Katie." Oliver told her as he loosened his grip on Emily and moved her a few paces back.

"Oi, what did I miss?" Jon was just coming down the stairs and had only witnessed the part where Emily had lunged herself at his friend.

"Katie's idle threats." Emily sneered at her.

In that moment, Katie couldn't explain it. Maybe she wanted to prove Emily wrong. Maybe she just wanted to release the pent up anger towards the girl. Or maybe she just felt like doing it. Whatever the case, Katie was on top of Emily in mere seconds. Oliver nor Jon had expected that and both were shocked when both girls tumbled to the ground.

"Shit!" Jon exclaimed as he attempted to join Oliver in separating the two. But, both figures were intent on beating the snot out of each other. Beforehand, Jon had thought given the shot that either Angelina, Alicia, or Katie would go at it with Emily if given the opportunity, and now that Katie had gotten an opportunity, he knew she wouldn't pass it up. As much as he wanted Emily to get what was coming to her, he was more concerned with a Professor coming and Katie, if not both of them, getting into serious trouble.

"Jon, a little help here!" Oliver gestured to the crowd that was drawing, and he, too, knew that it wouldn't be long before a Professor noticed or a ghost took notice and alerted a Professor. At that moment, he was even worried about a portrait seeing.

Katie was yelling various expletives to Emily as she pinned the other girl down to the hard, stony flooring and hurled punches at the girl, which Emily seemed for the most part to be able to avoid by grabbing Katie's wrists and upper arms and digging her manicured nails into the Gryffindor's flesh.

Oliver and Jon finally got the chance to get the girls off of one another, and they each grabbed one. By now Cedric Diggory, a Hufflepuff, had joined in the attempt to break things up, despite the open rivalry between him and Oliver.

"Let me go! I'll rip 'er a new one, I will!" Katie yelled as Jon and Cedric dragged her off of Emily, who was clearly on the losing side of the fight. Emily was promptly helped up by Oliver.

"Not that I don't believe you, Kates, but I don't want you getting detentions or worse. Got that?" Jon said sternly. Surprised that Alicia, Angelina, nor Iris had shown. And even more surprised at the fact Fred and George hadn't made their appearance yet.

"You alright?" Cedric asked her instinctively.

"Never been better." Katie answered truthfully. The only injuries she had sustained were minor ones that had been inflicted when Emily had quite literally latched onto her with her claws. Much to Katie's pleasure, Emily hadn't been so lucky. Katie knew the Hufflepuff was going to at least have a black eye, a busted lip, and a bruised face. Not to mention bruises on her arms from where Katie had fiercely grabbed her and tackled her to the ground. "Hey Emily!" She called not to far away to where Emily was complaining to Oliver. "Idle threats huh?" She smirked to herself and Jon turned to the side so he could contain his laughter.

Cedric didn't even see the whole thing, and managed to find it amusing. Not to mention the fact that Emily had finally gotten what was coming to her. Or the fact that there couldn't have been a person in the world that was more deserving than Katie to give it to her. Little did Katie know, or care for that matter, that Emily constantly badmouthed her and numerous other Gryffindorsin the Common Room while talking to her little minions, Simona and Marcy.

Marcy Lang, a rail thin brunette who was almost as slutty as Emily, was soon at Emily's side, fussing over her constantly and almost shoving Oliver out of the way. This freed Oliver to come over and vent at Katie.

"What the fuck was that?" He fumed at her, completely disregarding Jon and Cedric beside her. "That is my _girlfriend_ you just attacked!"

"She provoked me! And I acted on it!" Katie objected before he could yell anymore rhetorical questions at her.

"I'm finding that hard to believe. Emily has been nothing but tolerant of you and the other's behavior towards her." The Quidditch Captain remarked.

"Behavior? Our behavior? I know for a fact she has done nothing but try and push our buttons just to try and get us to do something to earn her even more attention from you." Katie shoved Oliver away from her as he crowded her space. "Back off."

"You attacked my girlfriend!" Oliver repeated, his accent coming out thickly in his anger. "And you want me to back off! You know you are stronger than she is! You play Quidditch for Merlin's sake!" The Scotsman said, crowding her once again.

"Eh, she said back off, Wood." Cedric said placing himself slightly in front of Katie.

"This is none of your business, Diggory." Oliver said disgustedly.

"It damn well is my business when Emily, who is in my House, is constantly badmouthing Katie and other members of your Team, not mentioning House." Cedric proved.

"Oh, so she's a talker, hm?" Katie looked Emily over in the distance. "I'm up for another round!" She enthusiastically made her voice slightly louder.

_Why a Professor hasn't shown up yet is quite odd. _Was the thoughts of everyone observing the scene, and those who were involved.

"Katie!" Angelina was coming up out of the Great Hall and hurriedly walked over to one of her best friends. "I just heard--some Seamus kid saw it! Did you beat her --" She finally noticed Oliver and decided to go ahead and say it anyway, "--arse? Please say you did."

"I dunno. Ask her. Seems to be complaining enough." Katie smirked as she continued to look over at Emily.

"Can't believe I missed it." Angelina sighed and noticed the assortment of people that were around. "Oi! Get to class! Gonna cause a scene!" She said through her laughter and everyone surprisingly obeyed, none wanting themselves to be in trouble for encouraging a fight if a Professor was to show.

"I can't believe you, Katie." Oliver said in disbelief as he looked at her, his anger now replaced with disappointment in one of his friends. "And you, too, hm?" He turned sideways to look at Angelina.

"Look, Ol, I tried to like her. We all did." Angelina gestured to the group. Before adding to Cedric, "I mean, I dunno about you but we did." She pointed to herself before gesturing to Katie and Jon. To which Jon's reaction told her Oliver didn't yet know his other friend's objection to his girlfriend.

"Shit. Not you. Jon, you are the one who said I should give her a chance!" Oliver looked as his friend. "All you had to do is tell me!"

"Not bloody likely you'd listen! The only reason I told you to try and go out with her is because you wouldn't shut up about it, mate. I figured if you liked her so much then there must be something to it. So I let you make up your own decision." The only non Quidditch player in their group admitted.

"It's not like you would have broken things off anyway." Angelina told him pointedly.

"You know, Ange. I would have. If someone would have said something. And no one did. But I'm not now. Emily needs me right now. And Katie, you need to apologize to her." Oliver said insistently.

Cedric nor Jon nor Angelina were surprised when Katie's hand came up and slapped Oliver across the face. "Don't ever, ever tell me what to do. You may be my Quidditch Captain, but that's it. I will not and refuse to apologize to her. I don't care what you think or believe, she got what she deserved and I'd do it all again if I was given the opportunity. We," She looked at Jon and Angelina, "Along with Alicia, Iris, Lee, Fred, George, and countless others, were your friends before Emily even knew you existed. If you think that she is more important than your friends, then go ahead. Be angry about what happened today. Be angry at me. Be angry at Jon and Angelina for agreeing. But don't ever try and make me feel guilty. Because I'm not, Oliver Wood. I'm not." Katie ended and Angelina and Jon looked at Oliver in a silent way of agreeing as Cedric just looked on awkwardly, not quite getting why he had interfered.

"I have nothing else to say to you three. If you have a problem with Emily, then you have a problem with me." The Keeper turned and walked off towards Emily.

"You know, screw him." Angelina announced to her friends and Cedric. "He can pick her over us all he wants, but we don't need him."

Katie was staring off into space at that point. Slightly dazed, and most definitely confused. _What just happened?_ She asked herself pointlessly.

"Tell the Professor I'm in the Hospital Wing." She said in a whisper toCedric, who was in her Ancient Runes class,before she headed off in the direction of the hospital. Her arms were hurting a lot more than she would have thought from Emily grabbing her.

"Katie!" Angelina called. "Do you need us to take you to the Hospital Wing? I didn't know you got hurt or anything --"

"Nothing major, Ange. I'll see you later on. Promise." She nodded and waved at her friends before walking out towards the Wing.

Angelina stared at Emily Bradshaw from a distance. "She disgusts me. Absolutely revolting. _Revolting_." She suddenly felt the urge to march over to Emily and tell her something or two about how she felt, and on cue her feet began moving towards the trio of Oliver, Emily, and that skank Marcy.

"Ange!" Jon was fastly walking behind her.

"Don't come near her." Oliver warned as he stepped in front of her.

"I can damn well do as I please." She yelled at her friend. Or more likely, former friend. "She has just been a wedge between every friendship you've ever made! She's a bitch and you know it! Plotting and deceiving! Very well likely a cheater, if you ask me." She narrowed her dark eyes at the Hufflepuff. "You just make me _sick_. You are nothing more than a ruddy piece of shit."

Emily, in all her battered glory, took this time to step in beside Oliver. "I think it would be wise if you wouldn't talk that way about me, Angelina." She said Angelina's name as if poison was running off of her tongue and accentuated her tone with a venomous glare in the Chaser's direction.

"Right. And I listen to you since when?" Angelina remarked hotly as she folded her arms in front of her chest just as Jon caught up to her.

Emily simply glared at her as Oliver came to her defence. "I'd appreciate it, _Johnson_, if you would quit provoking my girlfriend." Oliver told his teammate coldly.

"Ah, so now it's back to _Johnson, _Wood?" Angelina said just as coldly as he had. "And if you want to talk about provoking, why don't you just ask your beloved Emily."

"And that's supposed to mean?" Oliver asked the female Sixth Year.

"It means get your head out of your arse and open your fucking eyes." Jon said severely as he answered for Angelina.

"I'd suggest you stay out of this Wright. Your comments are not needed nor wanted." The Gryffindor Keeper told his friend.

"Well I definitely think my comments are needed. Because obviously, unlike you, I can see that Katie was obviously provoked by Emily." He nodded in Emily's direction. "I was here to witness it, you know."

"This isn't inbetween us, Jon." Oliver addressed his friend by his first name. "Don't make it that way."

"I'm _'making',_" He air-quoted the word, "This something that I feel it needs to be made in defence of a friend who isn't here to represent herself at the moment."

Oliver's brown eye's met Jon's deep blue one's in a viscious glare that they exchanged for what seemed like minutes, but in reality lasted a mere few seconds. "I think it's best that Emily and I leave now." He turned to his girlfriend. "Do I need to get you to the hospital wing?"

"No, no, I should be fine." Emily made sure to add in plenty of fake sniffles inbetween and in the middle of words. "I'm just going to go to the bathrooms with Marcy and see if some concealer can cover this mess up." She said as she pointed to her face as an indication.

"Alright." Oliver told her softly, in a voice that could have easily been mistaken for a tone of defeat. "I'll wait for you and walk you to your first class if you'd wish."

"It really won't be necessary, Olive." Emily smiled --as much as she could smile without wincing -- before giving Oliver a kiss on the cheek and walking off with Marcy.

Several curious gazes of several onlookers who had been purposely lagging behind followed Emily and Marcy as they left the area.

"Yeah, we all better get to class." Cedric announced, uttering his first words in a long while. "No telling how delayed the stairs could cause us to be." He shrugged.

"So true." Angelina said as her temper lowered now as she looked from Oliver to the Captain of the Hufflepuff team. "Ancient Runes and Muggle Studies aren't too far away are they?"

"I don't think." Cedric shrugged yet again. "Why?"

"We'll walk together, then. Chat some, you know?" Angelina gave a small laugh and walked away from Oliver and locked arms with Cedric, which surprised him as much as it did everyone else, and the two walked away discussing their summers as soon as Angelina yelled a bye to Jon.

Oliver opened his mouth to say something to the only remaining Gryffindor in the area, which was Jon.

"I don't want to hear anymore of what you have to say mate," Jon told his former best friend as he turned and began making his way to the front hall so he could get to Herbology.

Oliver looked at his friend's back as a wave of anger, frustration, and annoyance washed over him. Then, he too, decided to head out to Herbology. He was changed now. He was without three people who he had once called friends.

* * *

**Ta da! Yeah, it wasn't the best ever . . . so gimme some feedback on how to improve!**

**Maria Casey Wood: Sorry, it wasn't Oliver! But he did eventually come into the picture!**

**Olympian: I'm glad you are pleased! I hope I can make this story turn out ok.**

**Eruaphadriel: Thank you so much for reviewing many of the chapters! I hope this chapter is alright!**

**To add to the thank yous, I want to thank all the readers whether they review or not!**

**So, R & R and I'll update as quick as possible! -PiscesWeb25-**


	7. Oliver vs Everyone

Later that Month:

It was surprising what all could happen in a month around Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The students were adjusting to their schedules and almost all, except the Slytherins, would easily admit that Potions was the most despised class on their schedule. But, unfortunately it was a mandatory class.

When it was a Potions day, Oliver and Jon were stuck with Snape at the next to the last class of the day; catching Snape at his worst. To add to that, they had Potions with the Seventh Year Slytherins, and neither Gryffindor seemed to be able to decided who they hated the most, each other or Marcus Flint and his gang of clone like baffoons that he called friends.

The rest of the Sixth Year Gryffindors had Potions with the Ravenclaws, a House that consisted of pretty agreeable and neutral people. None of the Gryffindors had any close friends among the Ravenclaws, save Lee who was surprisingly approaching his four month anniversary with Paige Reynolds, much to the shock of his friends. They had declared it had to be a record for the self proclaimed Ladies Man and Fred was even organising a party, something George didn't like being left out of, but Fred and George were oddly not speaking nor hanging out as much as they usually did.

Oliver and Katie hadn't made up, no one envolved in the situation had made up with Oliver in all reality. Even though Oliver and Emily hadn't broken up, their relationship had become strained due to various rumors circulating around the school about both of their infidelities, none had been proven true. Alicia, George, Fred, Lee, and Iris didn't even know where to begin with the situation. Whether it was at Quidditch practice, in the Common Room, or anywhere else in the castle, everyone was left feeling awkward when Oliver was in the room with them. Even poor Harry had been dragged into it at several Quidditch practices.

And now, despite the tension amongst them, even more pairings in the Gryffindor House had occurred. To the shock of no one, Alicia and George were now an item. It had taken locking the two into a faulty secret passageway that the twins had discovered (Fred and Iris's idea) to get them together, but it had worked. When they finally released them they couldn't get the two off of each other, so they had left them in there for a good hour until they were begging to get out. "Probably to move things to a more comfortable setting." Lee quipped.

Now with Alicia and George together, all that was left to do was to get Angelina and Fred together, since the chemistry was obvious between them. They decided to give it a week or so before attempting to get them two together, so that they wouldn't expect it with the recent "coupling" of Alicia and George.

Oliver was already into obsessive Quidditch maniac mode and had the team up at 5 in the morning before classes, and until 11 in the evening after classes. At this sudden lack of time, the sixth years had worked out a system. One or two would be doing their homework in a class, while the others took notes for their next assignment. Thankfully two of them were always in the same class, so one would always be taking notes and the other working. Of course, whenever they had an extra fifteen minutes, they would swap and when doing homework, they were faced with the task of rewording the other's homework and making it sound like their own. Something none of them particularly enjoyed.

Lee and Iris, the non Quidditch playing Sixth Years, were almost as frustrated with this system as Fred, George, Katie, Alicia, and Angelina were. Lee hated doing his own work, much less helping the others with their own. Iris didn't mind, but she was getting a bit annoyed with the fact that Oliver didn't give the team a break to get caught up and was on the verge of showing him what a real Irish person was like when frustrated.

"If one of you don't talk to him soon . . .!" Iris let the sentence hang as she vented to Katie, Alicia, and Angelina as they sat in a group in the common room at nearly 12 on a Friday night. All of them working on an excrutionatingly long essay for Charms.

"I don't think I can write another word." Alicia yawned before leaning her head onto Katie's shoulder. "He can shove that broom of his, and everyone else's up his . . ."

"Uh ah uh. More work less griping you two." Angelina chastised. Herself working on her last paragraph.

"Easy for you to say. I can't make sense of Lee's notes." Katie held up the parchment that had what looked like scribble on it. "I know he is a guy and all, but . . . this is a mess!" She groaned before leaning her own head back against Alicia's.

At that moment a very tired Percy came through the portrait hole. "What are you four doing up so late?" He queried, addressing them in Head Boy mode.

"Percy. We have lessons, you know. This is just about the only time we get to do them, thanks to some maniac who insists on transforming into a slave driver." Alicia snapped grumpily. She still had a page left to write, and she was drawing a blank on how to stretch it out to make it longer.

"I did study that last year. All you have to do is ask for help." Percy told the group nonchalantly.

"Help is much appreciated. Although, since when have you been willing to help your brothers' friends?" Angelina replied more collectively.

"Classes are something that should be taken very seriously. I wish to deprive no one of their studies. And Oliver needs a good talking to about that." He lazily strolled over to them and sat on the floor between Iris and Alicia.

Alicia slowly sat up straight and Percy immediately started giving pointers to her on what wording to use and how to lengthen her conclusion. Angelina finished with glee and turned to help Katie, who just needed to figure out a way to wrap up her conclusions about how the use of Charms for simple everyday tasks were not necessary. Angelina pretty much re-phrased her ending and Katie didn't object to a word that came out of Angelina's mouth. She finished just as Iris closed her textbook and Percy was telling Alicia how to end her essay.

"I am sleeping in tomorrow, you can pass that onto Wood." Katie announced. "I refuse to practice. It is Saturday and we need a break. Or I'm going on strike."

"Yep." Angelina agreed. "I will kill you him if he wakes me up. And I mean it, too. He's already on my shit list. And it will be a slow, painful death for him too."

Alicia was silent until she finished her essay. "Yes. I agree."

"Fine. I'll talk to him about no morning practice tomorrow. Perhaps even getting the evening practice shortened, I guess. Just don't get used to it. I don't have as much authority as I would like on the matter." Percy said, showing a faint sign of niceness, which he usually reserved for the teachers and his girlfriend.

"I'm going to start on my Ancient Runes essay tomorrow." Katie muttered as she got to her feet and extended a hand to Alicia and pulled her up. "I guess I'll have to get together with Cedric."

Percy looked disapprovingly at her. "It isn't like there aren't other, females to study with?" He said basically to himself, since Katie had already began talking over him.

"That is after I sleep for half the day." Katie finished with a laugh as she headed to the girl's stairs. "I call first shower."

"Me too!" Angelina called before Iris or Alicia could beat her to it. Angelina and Katie then proceeded to bolt up the stairs before Iris or Alicia could override their call.

"Damn." Alicia swore as the other girls got into the dorms.

Just as they heard the Sixth Year girl's dormitory door slam, the portrait hole opened to reveal a very tired looking Oliver.

"And where have you been so late, Mr. Wood?" Percy asked, literally puffing up like a big bird as he used his authoritive voice.

"In the Library making up some plays, Percy. And doing some school work." He ignored Alicia and Iris's presence. "Which is more I can say for you," He continued his statement directed at Percy, "For I believe I saw a certain Head Boy snogging a certain Head Girl not thirty minutes ago."

Percy looked horrified and opened and closed his mouth several times before his cheeks burned bright red. "Wood! I'm--I'm gonna -- I'm --"

"Going to finish your sentence?" Alicia offered with a half laugh.

"Ach!" Percy turned and his robes billowed behind him like some kind of cheesy superhero. He gave an infuriated sigh and stormed up the boy's stairs.

"Uh, hi Oliver?" Iris meant for the statement to come out like a greeting, but it came out more like she was questioning her words.

"Iris, Alicia." He greeted cordially. "How have you been?"

"Been driven insane, thank you very much." Alicia told him, not quite making it a mean statement, though she could have easily done that.

"Yeah, pretty much the same." Iris nodded in agreement as some of her red hair fell out of the loose knot she had it done in to keep it out of her face.

"I guess this is when I ask the ever so polite, 'How have you been'. So, with that said, how have you been?" Alicia asked as she sunk down into the couch she had chosen to sit on.

"Fine I guess. I mean, aside from feeling like an outcast in my own House, I've been doing just great." Oliver said sarcastically. "But, that has nothing to do with you two, so I'll leave it at that."

"Yeah, eh, it's kind of a lose/lose situation everyone is in at the moment." Iris agreed. "I mean, everyone has divided loyalties. It's unfair, but that's how it turned out."

"Yeah. I mean, you obviously see things from Jon's point of view --" Oliver began only to be interrupted.

"Just because I'm his girlfriend, don't automatically assume I have the same views as him, Oliver. We aren't one person, him and I. But, I don't exactly agree with you on the situation, either." She added to dispell any idea of her taking his side in the matter. "To add to that, Katie and Angelina are very good friends of mine. It's not just about Jon."

"I get that. Really, I do." Oliver nodded, not exactly sounding as assuring as he wanted to be. "And, Alicia, you're just kind of in the middle of it in all kinds of ways."

"True. But that doesn't mean that some of us can't get along. For instance, Fred and George have been on the outs with each other because of all of this. It's divided us all. Fred feels like we should just chose to ignore the fact that you are going out with Emily, while George feels like you should be jinxed and thrown into Azkaban." Alicia admitted openly.

"I know how you two feel, really I do. And I'm not trying to play the innocent one in all this, either. Everyone envolved is to blame, I'll own up to that." Oliver chose a seat as close to the fire as possible and leaned his head back against the headrest.

"Good to know." Alicia shrugged. "Maybe this will all pan out in the coming weeks. Who knows what could happen around here. Seriously, since when has Hogwarts ceased to hold some sort of surprise?" She rhetorically asked as she ended her response.

"Very true." Iris agreed. "But, I have one request."

"Which is?" Oliver asked in a lazy tone, feeling like he could fall asleep on the spot if given the chance.

"Let up on the Quidditch practices." The non-Quidditch player requested.

Suddenly, Alicia came to life. "I second that one! I really, really, _really_ second that one!" She nearly jumped off the edge of her seat at the prospect of lessening the Quidditch practice time.

With a giggle she couldn't with hold at Alicia's reaction, Iris continued, "For the sanity of us all. Plus, how in the world are the other teams able to practice if you're booking the pitch constantly?"

"My logic exactly." Oliver teased. "No, they have some free periods whenever the Gryffindors and other Houses are having classes. That's when they practice."

"So, you will let up?" Alicia pressed, getting back to the matter that was most important to her.

"Fine. Morning practice tomorrow will be cancelled. Only for you to catch up on assignments. I might cut down on evening practice. No promises, though."

"That news just makes my night!" Alicia suddenly had a burst of energy. "Iris, lets party!"

"Right . . . and you went insane around when exactly?" The redhead looked at the darker haired Chaser.

"Don't know yet, whenever I find out you will be one of the firsts to know, I promise." Alicia nodded her head profusely. "I'm going to go tell George!"

"He's asleep!" Iris pointed out as Alicia shot up from her seated position.

"I don't care!" Alicia was already at the stairs. "He would want to hear this!"

"Don't get caught by Percy up there!" Iris called as she realized it was now just her and Oliver left in the room.

"Awkward much?" Iris attempted to lighten the mood with her blunt statement.

"Talking about the fact that it's just me and my fomer best mate's girlfriend left in the Common Room?" He sighed. "No, not awkward at all." He replied sarcastically.

"At least you can be sarcastic." Iris pointed out.

"True." Oliver agreed. "How long do you think this mess will last?"

"It depends." Iris confessed vaguely.

"On?" The Quidditch Captain queried.

"Quite a few factors." Iris began to elaborate, using her hands to express andstresswhat came out vocally. "The first being how long this romance between you and Emily lasts. I mean, I have no idea where you two stand, butI know the longer you chose to ignore your former friends' warnings and ideas about your girlfriend, the longer they'll hold it against you. Another factor being what kind of mood Jon, Angelina, and Katie are in whenever and if a break up should occur." She paused. "On the flipside, if Katie, Angelina, or Jon out of some whacked up personality change decide to apologize, then it depends on whether or not you wish to hold their beliefs against them."

"Real simple, huh?" Oliver used sarcasm again as he let out another deep sigh.

"Oh yeah. I wouldn't wish the situation on anybody." The redhead gazed into the fire for a long moment. "It just all depends, Oliver. Hell, sometimes even the bloody weather affects a person's mood and their perspective on things. It's always the little details that make or break you."

"I agree one hundred percent." Oliver murmured. "A detail such as sleep could play a major part in it too. So, if you don't mind, I am going to retire now and think some things over. Thanks for actually speaking to me. It seems now I can only count the people who actually do that on one hand now." He stood up and gave a nod to Iris in a way of saying good night.

"Don't mention it." Iris nodded as Oliver turned and walked to the stairs. Her green eyes lit up as she called out to him one last time. "Hey, Oliver. Seriously, _don't mention it_. I could be in deep water with Jon."

"I wouldn't think of saying such." He said in a true gentlemanly tone and exited up the stairs and left Iris with a whole different view on the situation as she sat in the Common Room waiting for a free shower.

* * *

**Everyone isn't pissed at Oliver, at least! But . . . what effect will half the team being on the outs with Oliver have on House Quidditch games? Dun dun dun! Haha.**

**Hippielover459: You should start seeing what the direction the plot is going in with the next few chapters.**

**Spexy: Loved your review! I'm very glad you like Katie's behavior AND the story. Emily and Oliver will most likely break up sometime. I can't say if it will be soon, or later on in the story. And you haven't beena bitch for not reviewing! I would never think such! Just continue reviewing and I'll be happy :)**

**TheBrassPotato: You reviewed Chapter Four, but I'm going to put you in this thank you area since I've already posted Chapter Five. And I'm definitely going to try and blend the light with the more dramatic! **

**QHLuver: I can't say when everyone will patch everything up. Honestly, I haven't even written that far ahead yet. But, there will be more clashing amongst the team!**

**Eruphadriel: I'm glad you liked the chapter and the fight. I was kind of unsure when writing it! **

**Thanks to everyone reading the story! I'm attempting to spread my updates out some more, but everytime I log onto Yahoo! and see I have a review, it makes me want to update even more! Hehe. **

**Until next time . . . -PiscesWeb25-**


	8. Saturday Morning

**Disclaimer: I forgot about this in the previous chapter! As usual, I do not own Harry Potter or anything affiliated with Harry Potter! **

**Rating: Very mild chapter I think.**

* * *

It was eleven AM at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and not a soul in the Sixth Year girl's dorms was stirring. Camille lay on her stomach, one hand dangling off the side; Iris lay peacefully on her left side, her red hair slightly falling over her face; Angelina was resting on her back with her right hand laying gingerly on her stomach and her left laying on her side; Katie was lost under the warm covers, her ash blonde hair peeking out over the top; and Alicia was curled into a ball, one of her two pillows clutched to her chest.

Then there was a tapping on their window. Katie and Alicia, the closest to the window, stirred lightly as the tapping continued. Camille, the lightest sleeper of the group grumbled incoherently in her sleep. The tapping persisted and with a heavy sigh, Camille got up out of her bed and went to the window to let the owl in. She took the letter from the owl and watched it fly off in the general direction of the Owlery. "Miss Katie Bell." She read aloud before rolling her eyes. _Leave it to something associated with Katie to still manage to wake me up early. _

"Oi, Katie." Camille turned and flicked Katie's privacy curtain. "Delivery for Miss Bell." She continued.

"Omph." Katie pushed the covers off of her head and pulled the privacy curtain to where she could get the letter from Camille. "Thanks." She mumbled as she took the letter from her roommate.

"Uh huh." Camille said tersely before padding back over to her bed.

Katie lazily propped herself up with her pillows and pulled the curtain back more to get light from the window. "Mischa. Go figure." She opened the letter and read silently to herself.

_Katie-_

_I finally was able to pop in and tell mum about the baby. After staring at me like I was insane for about half and hour and nearly breaking dad's hand, she finally congratulated us and let the shock of becoming a grandmother sink in. Now we have to tell Dean's parents. And believe me, Mrs. Elliot hasn't exactly been supportive of our relationship as it is. She nearly went ballistic when Dean went to London to tell her we were engaged. Then again, his dad could care less, so it figures that his mum would freak out twice as much. On that note, I am so excited, Kates. I mean, it's finally settling into my mind that I'm going to be a mum! A mum! Me! I'm scared I'm going to drop the thing on it's head! Or screw it's life up royally. It's frightening at this moment. I don't want to be a bad mum and be some nasty thing they grow to hate. But, thankfully there's Dean. Merlin, I think that's the only thing from making me go crazy. But, in the end after all this 'morning' sickness -- it happens all day, I tell you -- it will be worth it. Enough of that. I'm hoping to have the wedding before I blow up like a balloon. So, when you come home for the Holidays, be prepared for a wedding! Mum and I have been planning for then, but, a definite date hasn't been set. I will keep you updated, though. You are going to be my maid of honor, missy. So, no objections. It's not like I can have my three year old sister standing up there with me. Okay, well, I'd much rather talk with you in person sometime. Let me know when your next Hogsmeade visit is. Maybe I'll have some time to apparate in for some tea or something. Dean says hello. _

_Love you, sis!_

_-Mischa._

"Mmph." She lazily slid down back under the covers, the letter still in her grasp. _When is our next Hogsmeade visit? I'll have to look at the bulletin. _She didn't think about it too much and just decided to resume her sleep. Tossing about until she reached a comfortable position, it was much to her dislike that she realized she was fully awake and that no matter how hard she tried, she wouldn't get to sleep any time soon.

_Grr. _She thought to herself as she quietly got up and pulled some clothes out of her trunk and headed to the bathroom. _At least I get first shower. _Was just about the only positive thought in her mind as she went to the showers and thought about the homework she would have to face today. _Relaxation my arse. _

Katie's shutting of the door made Alicia stir slightly, but she was in a slumber state and paid no attention to it as she continued her dreams. Camille annoyedly rolled her eyes at yet another noise that would delay her falling asleep, but would not let anyone deter her from achieving her goal, and soon thereafter drifted asleep to the distant sound of the shower water running. Angelina, however, was fully awake and simply sighed.

_New day already. No Quidditch, no Oliver. No problems. This is how life at Hogwarts should be. No drama, just regular lazy days and then dreaded classes. Aah, and to think next year he will be gone. No more maniac Quidditch Captain. Only, there will be a new Captain. Probably Alicia or one of the twins. Or Harry could become Captain, who knows. But, I do know I am now fully awake and need a shower. Ah, I guess I better get up then!_

Angelina did just that and gathered her clothes for the day and headed for the bathroom. She, too, was happy with the fact of getting one of the first showers.

-----

"Look who's up." Fred called as Katie and Angelina walked down to the Common Room nearly an hour later. "Nearly lunch time now, you know."

"Yeah, well, sleep is a luxury we rarely get to indulge in as of late." Angelina cast a glance at Oliver who was sitting at a desk, presumably working on homework of his own. That or either Quidditch plays.

"True." Fred nodded thoughtfully. "But, you two are here just in time to help me with a certain Charms essay. Seeing as Perce told us you finished yours last night."

"Sorry Fred, but I'm afraid that job will be left to just Ange. I have to go find Cedric and work on our Ancient Runes essay. Being as some certain Gryffindors decided not to take that class with me." After saying that, Katie realized she was giving Fred and Angelina a reason to work together without even trying. _Oh yay. Go me. Iris and Alicia will love this! _

"Sure. Ancient Runes, riiight." Fred repeated skeptically.

Katie crossed her arms over her chest. "What exactly does that mean?"

Angelina sat down next to Fred. "C'mon Katie Kates, Cedric is attractive, athletic, your age, kinda smart . . . "

"Oh no. Don't get all sappy on me. Cedric and I are just getting together to work on an essay! Comparing notes. You know, schoolwork. Yeah, I'll admit he's attractive. He's excellent at Quidditch if he only had a bit of a better team to work with. But, still, there is nothing going on between us. I'd barely call him a friend! It's not like I know him all that well!"

"Uh huh. Whatever you say." Fred nodded, clearly not agreeing.

"Yeah, yeah." The standing girl commented before realizing she didn't have her Ancient Runes textbook. "Oh, I've gotta go get my book." She turned and went back up the stairs.

"Please don't tell me you've got a plan brewing up there." Fred tapped the side of Angelina's head with his quill.

Angelina smirked. "Maybe." Her smile grew wider. "And don't ever tap me with a quill again."

"Yes ma'am." Fred mock saluted and Angelina looked at him like he was insane. More insane than he already was, that is.

"Now you're scaring me."

Fred turned to his textbook and muttered something about his dad's collection of muggle war artifacts and movies.

Katie came back down the stairs with her textbook and a scroll in tow. "Okay, well I'll see you two later. Have to hunt down Cedric." She rolled her eyes. "Don't get too friendly!" She laughed and dodged the pillow Angelina threw at her. It zoomed past her head and went straight across the room and hit some raven haired fourth year in the back of the head.

"Watch it!" The girl yelled in an agitated voice.

Angelina scowled before adding in a sickly sweet voice, "Sorry dearie!"

Fred and Katie could barely contain their laughter at the infuriated look on the Fourth Year's face. If it wasn't bad enough getting hit by a badly aimed pillow, having Angelina call you 'dearie' in that grandmother voice she had perfected to the point of flawlessness was just another added irritation.

"Eh." The girl muttered something before turning around and probably saying some insult to her friend who was sitting across from her.

"Fourth Years." Angelina rolled her eyes at the girl before turning to Katie. "I'm not the one people should be cautioning about getting too friendly, Miss I'm-Going-To-Study-With-The-Most-Attractive-Guy-In-Hogwarts."

"Hey!" Fred objected. "I'm attractive!"

"In your own way." Katie teased as she raised the pitch in her voice to where she sounded like she was talking to a baby instead of one of her best friends.

"That's right." Fred nodded and added in a whisper, "I'm _much_ more attractive than George, aren't I? You people just don't want to hurt his feelings, yes."

"Oh yeah, he's hideous." Katie laughed before Angelina added.

"And you look just like him!" Angelina reminded Fred, although she knew she didn't need to.

"There is no winning with you people, is there?" Fred looked disappointedly at the two girls, first at the one beside him and then at the girl standing up.

"Nope, sorry. It is our duty as your best mates to keep you grounded and not inflate your ego." Katie reached over and ruffled Fred's hair to where it was sticking up in every different direction imaginable.

"Oi! I spent two whole minutes on this 'do!" The Weasley's hands flew to his head as he immediately tried to flatten out his now spiked flaming red hair.

"Oh the agony of the time wasted!" Angelina feigned distress and dramatically let her head fall against the back of the couch.

Katie looked at the two with a roll of her eyes. "Hah. I'll leave you two to -- eh -- do whatever you two are planning on doing." She nodded her head and turned to leave before immediately spinning back around with a question. "Oh, I almost forgot . . . when is the next Hogsmeade visit?"

"Dunno." Angelina shrugged.

"Two weeks from now. Percy posted the dates this morning." Fred nodded along with every word he said, as if to make sure they were correct as he said them. "See, I _am_ smart!"

"Who would have thought!" Angelina clapped her hand over her mouth and recieved a look from Fred.

"Oh this hurts. This hurts bad, Ange!" He pretended to be hurt by her words and turned away. "I - I just don't see how this relationship is going to work." He didn't stop there. "I think . . . I think we need to see other people!" He added dramatically to where the whole room was looking at Katie, Fred, and Angelina.

"Idiot." Katie muttered under her breath before letting out a laugh. "I'll leave you to explain this one. Au revior!"

Angelina stared at Fred blankly. "Where the hell did that one come from?"

"Muggle . . . err, elliovision?" He gave a hopeless shrug and Angelina clicked her tongue and gave him an odd stare.

* * *

**It's a lot shorter than some of the previous chapters, and this chapter could be considered unneeded. But, it's mainly just for showing interactions between Angelina and Fred, even though this is mainly a Katie Bell story. It is also the beginning of the introduction of Katie's family into the story, which will get more detailed as Mischa's visit draws closer. But, the next chapter will focus on Katie in a big way! **

**TheBrassPotato: You are very much forgiven! Chapters 6 & 7 were probably some of themost difficult chapters to write so far, and I'm pleased you liked them both.**

**LithMoon: His 'redeeming' himself might not last too long! But, I don't want to give anything away . . . **

**Spexy: At first I thought the complications weren't going to be real enough, so thanks for pointing out that you think they are. And you used the word awesome twice in your review! So, double thanks to you! **

**So, as I said earlier, the next Chapter will be Katie-centric. So, stick around and find out what happens!**

**-PiscesWeb25-**


	9. In the Library

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter!**

**Rating: As usual, T.**

**Notes: I don't know the name of the Ancient Runes teacher, I might have overlooked it in the book or maybe it hasn't been mentioned yet. So I just made up a name. If the teacher has been named in the books, please let me know! **

* * *

"Cedric! Hey, I was hoping to catch you here." Katie approached Cedric Diggory as he was sitting alone in the library. Well, not exactly alone if you count the gawking fangirls admiring him from a distance.

"Katie, didn't expect to see you here." The Hufflepuff Seeker looked up from a book he was reading, unaware of the study session he was about to be asked to help with.

"Yeah, well, I was going to try and catch you yesterday at breakfast, but, with practice, I was barely able to eat let alone socialize." Katie laughed as she took a seat next to him. "I know you're working on something now, but I was wondering if you'd like to work on our Ancient Runes essay together. I'm missing a few notes and we might be able to finish up quicker if we work together."

"Yeah, sure. I'm having a hard time catching up too." Cedric closed his book. "I was just finishing up with my History of Magic work."

"Great." Katie happily opened her book. "Sure you don't mind? History of Magic is an important class too. I don't want to interfere . . . maybe if tomorrow is better?" She glanced over at him to make sure she wasn't bothering him.

"I'd rather finish up all the work today. Got to at least pretend to have a life." Katie smiled and Cedric smiled back. At this the little Cedric groupies shot Katie a killer look.

Katie leaned across the table. "I think your little fan club wants to kill me right about now." She said in a quiet voice.

"Fan club?" Cedric asked cluelessly.

_The popular ones are always oblivious to their admirers. Typical. How could he not notice? _Katie nodded her in the direction of the assortment of females attempting to hide behind the bookcase.

Cedric's mouth made an 'O' shape as he noticed. He gave a wave in their direction and Katie could have sworn one of the girls fainted. "Tease." Katie hit his arm as she rolled her eyes.

"Oh am I?" Cedric played along.

"You just gave them even more reasons to want to jump you and shag the hell out of you." The Chaser laughed and so did Cedric.

"Gee, thanks. I'll be watching my back."

"Yes. Don't want to be found alone in some corridor after class . . ." Katie couldn't stop laughing at the insanity of it all. Yet, she was thankful the flock of girls couldn't hear their conversation and get any ideas.

"Trying to get me paranoid, I see." Cedric nodded. "Be that way, then."

Yet again, they exchanged smiles and Katie was afraid one of the girls might cast a hex on her. "Though if any harm comes to me from doing homework with you, I will hold you entirely responsible." She nodded in the direction of the girls nearby.

"And why would they harm you?" Cedric quizzed as he got his Ancient Runes textbook out from underneath his Herbology text.

"Maybe because I am talking to you and sitting at the same table as you." Katie gave him a genuine smile. "But, enough of your fanclub. Lets get this essay started and maybe be able to salvage what is left of this Saturday."

"Ah, so what is our topic again?" The Hufflepuff Seeker asked, opening his textbook to any random page.

"It's . . ." She rolled one of her scrolls open. "Ah, yes. 'The advantages and disadvantages of using magical or nonmagical ways to translate and/or decipher Ancient Runes. Use examples of cases when magic has helped in the translations and when magic has caused miscalculations and use examples of cases where nonmagical translating has resulted in severe miscommunications and how magic could have prevented such occurrences.'" Katie finished reading and took a deep breath. "Isn't this going to be loads and loads of fun."

"Leave it to Ashblythe." Cedric muttered referring to their Ancient Runes teacher. "Wanna split this up and combine our notes afterwards to save some time?"

"Sure. I'll take the nonmagical side of it." She immediately claimed the easiest one for her.

"Good. I barely know anything about Muggles and their techniques." The male Quidditch player nodded in agreement.

"Should have taken Muggle Studies, then." Katie pretended to fuss at him.

"I think I'll stick with Care of Magical Creatures, thanks."

"I wish I would have taken that class now that Hagrid is teaching." Katie mentioned, wanting to keep conversing with him as she researched.

"It's been a riot. He may not be as qualified as some of the previous teachers, but, he knows his stuff." He complimented the slightly offbeat Care of Magical Creatures teacher.

"Tell that to the Slytherin lot." The Gryffindor Chaser said in an annoyed tone. "I just don't get why they allow those stuck up pigs to attend Hogwarts. All of them will be Death Eaters one day. Or worse."

"I once dated a Slytherin." Cedric informed in a laughing tone. "Elindria Celiopouls. The worst mistake of my Fourth Year. She seemed decent enough, you know. But . . . what can I say? She was a Slytherin. Naturally, things didn't work out."

Katie gave a small laugh at the admittance and afterwards they fell into silence aside from the scratching of their quills against the parchment and, of course, the giggling and whispering of Cedric's little fangirls.

"I'm going to throw something at them in a minute." Katie whispered as the girls continued to whisper and giggle like maniacs.

"Now, now, I can't help it they think I'm sexy." Cedric told her in the most annoying tone he could manage.

"Scratch that, maybe I'll throw you at them. Fun for everybody, right?" The Chaser put her quill down and raised an eyebrow at him. "Like that idea?" She didn't mean for the words to come out so . . . huskily, but they did and Cedric noticed.

"I'm liking a lot of ideas at the moment." His voice was low and he leaned across the table, giving room for Katie to either fill the distance or to back away.

_Think. Think. Think. Can't. Form. Intelligible. Thoughts. Merlin. Mm. Think. Think. Think. I am not some ditz who freaks out around guys! _Somehow while Katie was busy attempting to form thoughts, she had leaned in and her lips brushed his. She was about to pull away when she realized that she wanted this. She wanted to kiss Cedric Diggory just because. So, she did what any girl would do in her position. She continued to kiss him. It was right before the kissing reached the level of intensity that required tongue to be involved that they broke away.

Instead of being shocked at what she had just done, Katie turned her head to where she wasn't facing Cedric, but facing the furious fangirls and gave a smile. _Okay. Me just painted big red bulls-eye on my head for every girl in Hogwarts to want to hex me. Bad, bad Katie. No, bad bad Cedric. Too bloody intoxicating. Did I just use the word 'intoxicating' to describe a guy? Oh no. Too much Alicia and Angelina. No more listening to them go on and on about the Weasleys. Well, Ange won't admit, but lets not think about them. I just kissed Cedric Diggory! Oh bugger, what do we do now? Be all awkward for the rest of the day? Year? Ever?_

"Still want to throw me at those girls?" Cedric asked from across from her as he fidgeted with his quill.

Katie looked down and the corner of the table suddenly seemed very interesting. "If it helps with me getting away unscathed, sure." She glanced at him out the corner of her eye.

"Getting away to where?" He pressed, a smile still on his face and the quill still twirling about in his grip.

"Somewhere not here." She was struggling not to blush now, although he couldn't see her face.

"Oh, and why is that?" Cedric continued to get her to talk. He knew his own feelings about the kiss, he just wanted to see what she was thinking.

"Oh, I dunno. Just the whole thing about kissing someone in the library for the first time is kinda getting to me." The last sentence came out in a rush as she ran her fingers up through her hair and looked at Cedric through the new opening.

"Your first kiss, hm? I feel honored." Cedric continued to play on.

Katie had to roll her eyes. "No, you dumbarse. You. My first time kissing _you_."

"Ah." He simply nodded his head.

"I'm going to hit you if you don't quit with the annoying responses." Katie gave him a threatening, yet suspiciously playful, glare.

"That would be no fun." Cedric answered here in an unreadable tone.

True to her word, Katie reached over to push him and he teetered on the two back legs of the chair. His flailing about was quite amusing to the Chaser until he grabbed her hand and pulled her back with him, successfully pulling her halfway over the table. With a loud crash he succeeded in pulling her the rest of the way over andthey toppled to the floor laughing the whole time.

The fangirls screamed and promptly the Librarian was heading their way. "We've . . . got to . . . get. . ." Katie was nearly out of breath from the impact of the fall and the laughter consuming her body.

"Out of here?" Cedric managed. "Yeah. I'm getting that vibe."

"Vibe?" Katie laughed again at his choice of words as he sat up and grabbed their materials and no less than shoved them into his bag.

"Yeah, yeah. We'll talk about that after we escape the wrath of Madame Pince and the so called fan club." Cedric stood on his feet and offered Katie a hand, which she refused and got up on her own.

"Should we . . ." She gestured to the chairs on the floor.

"Honestly, how can you be worried about that?" Cedric looked at her in disbelief.

"I don't want to make a mess of things . . ." Katie defended.

"Oh, come on." Cedric quickly began walking towards the exit as the librarian was just making it to the scene.

"Hey, we've seriously got to talk, mate." She was catching up with him right as he was reaching the library door.

"About?" Cedric turned to her as she finally matched his stride.

"If you're this dense . . . " Katie looked at him with annoyance as she finished with a 'agh'.

"Maybe I just need a reminder." Cedric mused. "I mean, what happened again?"

"I'm really going to slap you now." Katie said in a not-so-powerful voice. "You are being absolutely ridiculous." She stopped them as she realized they were walking towards the Gryffindor Tower.

"Me? Being ridiculous? Whatever have I done?" He put on a girly accent and placed his hand over his heart.

"Fine!" She grabbed him on the shoulders and brought his considerably taller self down until their lips met for a second time, this time in a much fiercer and harsh way. "There." She pushed him back up to his full height. "Reminded enough?"

"Ow. You hurt my shoulder." Cedric complained as he rubbed his left shoulder with his right hand.

"That isn't the only thing that's gonna be hurting if you keep this up." She raised her eyebrows at him and put her hands on her hips.

"You're cute when you're upset." Cedric smiled down at her.

"You are impossible." She ran her hands through her hair. "And you interrupted my research." She was going into a full on pout for a change of emotions.

"We can always research tomorrow. The essay isn't due until Wednesday." He reminded her with another grin.

"Don't you have a Quidditch team to be making practice?" Katie tilted her head to the side.

"Oh no. A free Saturday afternoon for me."

"Oh joy." She sarcastically replied.

"I know, isn't it?" Cedric still had a broad grin on his face.

"You could at least attempt to talk about what happened." Katie shrugged. "I mean, at least explain what happens next."

"Alright, fine. Straight to the serious talk I see. How about . . . lets do it again."

"I am going to kill you." Katie threatened, not able to keep a laughing smile off of her face. "Okay. That line is getting old. Getting too idle threat-y."

"Oh ho ho. So you aren't going to kill me?" Cedric pointed out.

"Course not." She smiled and stepped closer to him. "I'd rather kiss you." She kissed him and Cedric secured her in place by placing his hands on either side of her waist. "And then," She broke away. "I'm going to go back to my Common Room and leave you to think. Being you haven't been willing to talk." She kissed his cheek this time. "Seeya later." She bent down to where Cedric had likely dropped his knapsack and pulled out her scrolls and her book. With a smile she walked off. Cedric just kinda looked as she walked, half amused, half shocked.

* * *

**Another chapter done with! Yep . . . ta da. Now, do you think anything will come of this? Maybe . . . maybe not. Let me know your opinions on the matter! **

**QHLuver: Does that answer your question? LoL.**

**Maria Casey Wood: Mischa is about seven weeks along. And, yes, Fred and Angelina will definitely be flirtinga lot.**

**TheBrassPotato: Most of Fred's fate will be revealed soon enough! Hehe. I hope this was a satisfactory Katie-centric chapter.**

**Spexy: At the moment Katie and Oliver can't seem to make up their mind, can they? And the Cedric ordeal is just going to complicate things up some more! But . . . we shall see what happens. I'm planning on making this a long story, so who knows . . . I would like to say thanks, thanks, thanks for the use of not one, not two, but three awesomes! That's just awesome! LoL.**

**Everyone have a lovely day/night! Until next time . . . **

**-PiscesWeb25-**


	10. All Apologies

**Hey everyone! I just got back from school and I'm in a great mood, so I figured I'd post an update! **

**Rating: Strong T, especially towards the end of the Chapter.**

**Disclaimer: This is just me having fun with something someone else created! All of the characters and places belong to JK Rowling with the exception of Iris, Jon, Emily, and a few others.**

**An additional disclaimer: "Lithium" and "All Apologies" are both written by and belong to Nirvana, not me. I simply borrowed them for use in this chapter and in the chapter title.**

* * *

"You're back early." Iris noted as Katie walked back into the Common Room. "And you're happy. Really happy. What happened?" Angelina and Fred were talking in the corner and looked up. Alicia and George hadn't come out of their snogging session yet and hadn't even acknowledged that Katie had entered the room.

"Nothing happened. Exactly." Katie grinned as she went and sat next to Iris, setting her books on her lap.

"Exactly? Oh, that's gossip waiting to happen. Do tell, what are you hiding!" Iris giggled girlishly and as Angelina approached, she gave her a weird look at her Irish friend's uncharacteristic behavior.

"Alright girly-girls. What happened to make Iris laugh like that?" Angelina sat on the coffee table in front of them and crossed her legs over her lap.

"Nothing." Katie responded looking upwards.

"It has to do with Cedric doesn't it?" Angelina looked at her knowingly. "What did you two do?"

Katie looked around, not looking at either girl in the eye and started humming a song.

"Katie Margot Bell!" Iris and Angelina chorused in an agitated tone.

Katie's humming became louder and the tune of Nirvana's 'Lithium' became even more clear.

"Would you stop with that annoying song!" The Annoyed Chaser told her Quidditch teammate.

"I'm so happy because _today _I found my friends," She made a point to look at Angelina and Iris as she burst into tune, "They're in my head! I'm so ugly, that's okay, cause so are _you_!" She continued to give Iris and Angelina a glare, "We've broken our mirrors! Sunday morning is everyday--"

"Katie! In Merlin's name, shut up!" Angelina hissed at Katie as she snatched the books off of the other Chaser's lap. "Or your notes will say hello to the fire."

Katie had been singing through the whole thing and ended abruptly on the line she was singing. "Light my candles in a daaze--NO! Don't! Those are my notes! You can't do that!" She reached for her wand out of her robes. "Accio Notes."

Angelina's grip on the notes prevented them from flying to Katie, but that didn't mean she didn't have to struggle to keep a hold on them.

"Ooh Fred . . ." Katie sing songed and Angelina practically threw the notes at Katie's face and Katie snapped her hands up to catch the parchments.

"Blackmail backfired." Angelina immediately announced as she folded and refolded her hands in her lap . . . she couldn't risk Katie blabbing to Fred. _Not that there is anything to blab about_. She assured herself.

"Please tell us what is up!" Iris no more than begged.

"I will. Later in the dormitory when Alicia isn't busy so I don't have to repeat myself." Katie smiled and the girls appeared satisfied.

"Fine. But we have to know! Does it include Cedric?" Iris pressed.

"It includes a Quidditch player." Was Katie's brief response as she unrolled her notes. "Oh damn. I picked up Cedric's notes instead. I've gotta go see if I can find him or someone in Hufflepuff to give his notes to."

"Uh huh." Iris and Angelina reluctantly agreed.

"At least we know it's a Quidditch player." Angelina shrugged. "Seven multiplied by four is twenty eight. Twenty eight minus five is twenty three."

"Why minus five?" Iris suddenly asked.

"Well, it can't include her, Alicia, Fred, George, or me. We've all been sitting in here. Well, except her. And, that's just illogical for it to include herself twice."

"Oh." Iris murmured in a slightly dazed tone.

Katie made it to the portrait hole and was about to walk out when Oliver walked in.

"Can we talk now?" He asked quickly before she could brush past him and get into the portrait hole.

"Now? You've had a month to talk." She crossed her arms over her chest and looked at him disapprovingly.

"I was distracted." He knew his excuse was weak, but it was the truth. "I'm as stressed over schoolwork as everyone else."

_It is your fault. _She thought to herself. "Fine. I'm going to return Cedric's notes to him, we can talk when I get back."

"I'll walk with you." He offered quickly.

"You hate Cedric. Why would you want to walk with me and possibly have a run in with him?" Katie suspiciously asked him.

"Because . . ." Oliver rubbed the back of his head as if looking for a response. "If I sit in here and think I might screw things up even more when I say them."

"Fine. If I find Cedric,which I'm not sure I will, then you have to promise not to say anything." Katie looked to him for a response.

"I won't say anything to Diggory." Oliver reluctantly promised.

"Good. Lets go then." Katie nodded before ducking out of the portrait hall. Once she had reached the other side, she waited for Oliver. "You wanted to talk, so talk."

"Okay." Oliver nodded. "First let me apologize for anything I might have said whenever you and Emily had that row. It's just a really difficult place to be put in, you know. Between your friends and girlfriend."

"Now you tell me." Katie sighed. _Merlin he just annoys me sometime! Apologizing now. Apologies. I hate apologies. _Then she imagined the worst thing ever! And at a time like this! It made her bust out laughing as she imagined Oliver singing. _What else should I be? All apologies. What else should I say? Everyone is gay. What else should I write. I don't have a ._ . . She had to stop envisioning him singing for her laughing.

"I apologize to you and you laugh. Jeez, Katie. What the bloody hell is wrong with you?" Oliver stopped and looked at the laughing woman with a scowl on his face.

"Ol, I'm s-sorry." She managed. "It's-it's just," She paused to take a breath. "I imagined, hah, that you were si-singing this song." She clamped her hand over her mouth as the mention of it made her laugh again.

He wanted to be angry with her, but, he did realize that sometimes people had moments like this at random. And he did have to agree, his singing was pretty awful. "What song?" He inquired. At least wanting to know what song he had so horribly butchered in her mind.

"You see, there's this muggle band called Nirvana--or they were--and they sing this song called "All Apologies" and when you said the word 'apologize' it just kind of set it off in my head being that I was just singing slash humming another one to Ange and Iris earlier." Katie explained in what she thought was a satisfactory way.

"Oh yes. Lead singer blew his head off." Oliver nodded. He, unlike others in the wizarding world, knew a bit about the muggle world. Mostly to try and manipulate soccer or other muggle sport's plays to where they could be used in Quidditch, but he still listened to the occasional good band.

"Don't make it sounds so crude." Katie defended. "You could just say 'committed suicide' or 'killed himself'."

"Well, he did didn't he?" Oliver questioned her.

"Yeah . . ." Katie started.

"Alright. Point proven."

Katie narrowed her eyes at him and stuck her tongue out at him. "Fiine. You're right. In a way." She refused to completely give in. It just wasn't her style. "This is so not talking Mr. Master of the Diversions."

"Oh no. You started this with your laughing. I simply apologized. You started thinking about me singing." The Quidditch Captain reminded her with a smile. The number of students in the corridor was largely increasing probably due to the fact that it was around the time lunch ends. "Have you eaten today?" Oliver randomly asked.

"No, mum, I haven't." Katie rolled her eyes upwards. "Have you?"

"Breakfast." He shrugged.

"You were up that early? Hell-o, breakfast is from like, dawn to nine. That is way too early to be up." Katie's hazel eyes largened considerably.

"I was thinking of some new plays and formations. There's this right tricky one that I've seen some of the Italian Quidditch teams use . . ." He was going into Maniac Quidditch Master mode now and Katie was beginning to tune him out.

"Oliver. At the moment, I don't care. Just tell me about it when we practice tonight . . . or tomorrow so I can sit through it with the team." _More like not want to sit through it at all if you ask me. _

"I wasn't planning on booking the Pitch tomorrow. But if Ravenclaw hasn't booked a midday practice I might look into if you wish." Oliver inwardly smirked. An excuse to have practice tomorrow without everyone hating his guts. For the moment at least. Just blame it on Katie.

"Aw man. Don't tell me I just got myself into a practice session. Olly-ver." She whined annoyingly. "I have to finish that Ancient Runes essay."

"Thought you went to look into that earlier with _Diggory_." Oliver said monotonously.

"As if it was any of your business, I did. And we decided to work on it tomorrow." Katie told him harshly, as she became annoyed at the fact that he was dragging her personal life into the conversation.

"Got distracted did you?" Oliver responded on cue.

"What in Godric's name are you going on about now?" Katie huffed defensively.

"It's a simple question, Katie, don't go getting all defensive." The Quidditch Captain still managed to hold a tone that was one of him knowing more than he'd let on.

"Ok, so what, I'll admit it. It's a possibility that maybe something did happen between Cedric and I." Katie shrugged. "It's not like it's a big deal."

"Right, you just decided to create a scene in the library by snogging that half wit." Oliver finally let out what knowledge he had been keeping secret.

"As if it is any of your business, so what if we decided to persue _something_." Katie told him vaguely.

"Ah, well, I decided to have practice tomorrow." Oliver replied in the same tone.

"That isn't fair!" Katie protested. "Oliver, I have to get that essay done!" Katie looked up and over at him. "Could you at least make it an optional practice? Like, not mandatory. Please?"

"Katie, you know how important Quidditch is to me this year." Oliver reminded the Chaser.

"I know Ol, but still." Katie persisted. "Just give me a break, please. I mean, this thing with Cedric . . ." Katie froze when she realized she had said the wrong words to the wrong person.

"So you want me to alter _my_ practices so you can spend some time with _Diggory?_" Oliver asked furiously.

"I didn't mean to put it that way, Oliver. I only meant that he is the only one who could help me with this essay. No one else is in my Ancient Runes class." She looked at him intently. "To add to that, Ol, not everyone on the team has a future in Quidditch, unlike you."

"What do you mean by that?" He asked, stunned.

"Are you daft? What else could that mean? Fred and George want to have a jokeshop to rival Zonkos; Alicia seems to be fascinated by being a healer; Harry doesn't even know what's going to happen to him, as awful as it sounds, with Lord You-Know-Who an' all." Katie paused. "You and Angie are the only ones who can even rightfully think ahead to joining a professional team."

"That's a load of shit and you know it." Oliver told her truthfully. "Every single person on the team could make it big if they wanted to. Quit fishing for excuses to cover up your selfishness, Katie." He told her as he angrily glared at her.

"Sod off, Oliver. I'm not fishing for excuses. Not everyone is some maniac obsessed with winning the cup. We play Quidditch to enjoy it. It's not about winning." The Chaser snapped at the Scotsman.

"Then why aren't they the one's telling me this? How come this subject so conveniently comes up when you want some down time with your boyfriend?" He continued to snap at her.

Katie grabbed his arm and dug her nails into his skin through the material of his robes. "_Stop it right now, Oliver_." She told him fiercely. "Stop trying to throw this on Cedric. He has _nothing_ to do this. Right now the professors are loading us down with homework and you are driving us insane! We haven't even had the first match and you are acting as if your life depends on winning the Cup." She glared at him, her hazel eyes displaying emotions of nearly pure hatred of him at the moment. "You know that the past two years the cup should have been ours. If you need a trophy to prove that for you, then you are even worse off than I could fucking imagine."

"I don't need a fucking trophy. I need a fucking Chaser that gives a damn! You want some study time? Enjoy your study time with Diggory then. You're off the team!" Oliver grabbed her wrist and pulled her hand off of his arm.

Katie stood looking at him shocked. She blinked once. Twice. She opened her mouth to retaliate when a cold voice interrupted.

"Now that you two are finished," The both turned to see the oily, large-nosed Professor Snape, "I tend to see you both in detention for the rest of the week for the use of such language in a _public_ school corridor. Twenty points apiece from Gryffindor. Be in my office at 7:30 sharp, any tardiness and consider another point and another hour for every minute of absence." He smirked nastily at them before briskly heading back towards the Great Hall.

"You fucking suck off." Katie told Oliver lowly before she turned around and went back towards Gryffindor Tower.

"Got to find a new Chaser now." Oliver simply said to himself as he shrugged and decided to head off to lunch.

* * *

**Oliver is being quite a jerk, isn't he? Wonder what will happen now that Katie is no longer a Chaser . . . **

**midnightmoo220: Thanks for reviewing chapters 2-9, it's always great to have another reviewer!**

**Beexyanca: I agree, Cedric is always popping up here and there. But, whenever that happens, it makes ideas come a lot quicker! Thank you much for reviewing!**

**QHLuver: Haha. Double thanks to you for saying awesome! For some reason I just -love- that word!**

**TheBrassPotato: Thanks for mentioning that JK hasn't named the Ancient Runes professor! Now, who would _possibly_ be capable of spiraling into a jealous rage? Hehehe.**

**Maria Casey Wood: Yes, yes. _Stuff_ will most certainly happen! And it appears that Oliver isn't doing too well on staying on good terms with Katie! We'll just have to see what happens! But, since you said please, I will try to work a little on having Katie reveal Angelina's secret.**

**Ok. Another Chapter done! I'll start working on the next bit soon! For it seems that the updating is catching up with me and I only have the next two chapters written. I think it's about time my muse returned from vacation, dontcha think?**

**R & R and my muse will work twice as hard on producing inspiration!**

**-PiscesWeb25-**


	11. The Not So Bad Aftermath

**Notes: Ok. The past two days haven't gone well at all for me, so I tried to make this chapter pretty light.**

**Rating: T**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, Katie Bell, Cedric Diggory, Oliver Wood, and the list goes on and on. I simply own a handful of characters and the plot.**

* * *

"Katie, what is wrong?" Katie had just stumbled past Cedric Diggory as she was attempting to make her way back to the Gryffindor Common Room. Cedric reached his arm out and stopped her and turned her towards him to prevent her from trying to go away. He then manoevered them into the nearest unused classroom. 

She wasn't crying, but she was visibly upset. She opened her mouth several times, but she couldn't get the words to come out. "I - we - I just -" She gave up and leaned against Cedric for a moment.

"Who is 'we' Katie?" Cedric inquired of his friend as he released her arm and gently pulled her away by the shoulders. "Did someone hurt you? Was it Emily?"

Katie let out a bitter laugh at the idea of Emily ever doing any serious damage to her. Her hazel eyes were fighting back tears of anger and hurt, causing them to turn a bright shade of green, like the often did when she cried or her eyes became irritated. She looked up at him and met his gaze, her words coming out surprisingly strong. "Think more along the lines of her male counterpart."

"_Wood? Wood!_ Did he hurt you?" He subconsciously tightened his grip on her shoulders and his eyes flickered with rage.

"No . . . no. He didn't." She broke her eye contact with Cedric and looked downto her left. "Not physically at least."

"What happened, Katie? You can tell me, honestly." The Hufflepuff Quidditch Captain assured her as he rhythmically rubbed her shoulders with his thumbs.

"Well, uh, you won't have to worry about playing against me when Gryffindor faces off with Hufflepuff this year." She shrugged away from him and his arms fell back down to his sides.

"What?" Cedric blinked several times. "Wood had the nerve to kick _you_ off the team!"

"Yes. I suppose me requesting one optional practice was just the most insane thing he's ever heard." Katie's voice was deflated and she gave a rueful laugh. "I guess it's his idea of payback. Only it's made to look like it isn't personal, but Merlin knows it is."

"Can't you go to McGonagall and get her to overrule his decision?" Cedric offered in an attempt to shine some light on the situation.

"Like I haven't thought of that one." Katie snapped. She paused and closed her eyes and took in two deep breaths before re-opening her eyes. "I'm sorry. I know you're trying to help. I'm just not in the best mood right now. You don't deserve to have to put up with Bitchy Katie."

Cedric let out a short sigh. "I think I can deal with it. Feel free to rant all you want."

Katie couldn't help but give a small smile as she turned her head to where she could glance at him over her shoulder. "I don't think you want to give me permission to do that."

The Hufflepuff returned a smile to her and added. "Yeah, maybe you are right." Her eyes glimmered slightly at the light tone in his voice.

"On that note, maybe I can get McGonagall to overrule it. Though, it's not likely. Oliver's the Captain for a reason, I s'pose. She must trust his judgement."

Cedric stepped closer to her and leaned down to whisper in her ear. "It's not a fair judgement when the person is influenced by personal conflicts."

The former Gryffindor Chaser turned her body around to where she was facing him and her body was slightly touching him when they breathed. "You know, you came up in the arguement." She admitted honestly.

"It figures he would drag your personal life into the matter." Cedric rolled his head backwards and looked at the ceiling.

Katie decided this would be the time to tease him. "Since when are you considered part of my personal life. You're just a study buddy."

"I'm feeling used at the moment." The Hufflepuff Seeker gave her a genuine smile and Katie couldn't help but return it.

"You see . . . he found out about what happened in the library." Katie continued. "And he seemed to twist my request for a practice break into free time that I allegedly wanted to spend with you." She touched a finger to the corner of her mouth thoughtfully. "Now why ever would I want to spend my free time with you?

"You are not nice." Cedric pouted. "Here I am listening and comforting you and this is what I get."

"I do want to thank you though." Katie responded in all seriousness. "It's been helpful. Talking to you. I mean . . . I can't waste my time being angry and hurt. I've got to move on, you know. Maybe I can get back on the team, maybe I can't. But that isn't the important thing."

"And what is the important thing, Oh-Enlightened-One?" Cedric said addressing her in a formal tone.

Katie briefly shot him a playful glare. "The important thing is that I have my friends and I haven't sunk to Oliver's level." She then amended her statement. "Well . . . not completely."

"Uh oh. What did you do?" Cedric lightly placed his hands on her waist and when she didn't object he kept them there.

"You see, we were arguing and when I get mad I tend to shoot off some unpleasant words and well . . . " She shrugged as she trailed off.

"You got caught didn't you?" Cedric responded knowingly.

Katie nodded and said the one dreaded word no Hogwarts student ever wanted to hear. "Snape."

"Oh great." Cedric sighed. "What was the damage?"

"A week's detention and twenty points a piece taken off." She gave an eye roll. "I suppose that's good news for Hufflepuff."

"Excellent." Cedric smirked. "Oh most excellent." He reconsidered his thought. "Oh nevermind. You have Harry. We're screwed."

Katie had to laugh. "We don't get all of our points from Harry . . ."

"Sure you don't." His voice was dripping in sarcasm and Katie shot him yet another playful glare and stepped away from him.

"Are you implying that us Gryffindors are an unruly lot that can't stay out of trouble?" Katie propped herself on the edge of one of the long desks and swung her feet back and forth to her own amusement.

"Course not. Why would I ever think such a thing?" Cedric cocked his head to the side and continued on elaborately. "I mean, those Weasley twins are the Saints of all Hogwarts. Lee is the most unbiased Commentator in the History of Quidditch!" Cedric threw his hands up in exclaimation.

"Oh ha ha. You're funny." Katie said as she shook her head at him.

"But, that Percy Weasley . . . he is just the most deceitful trickster to ever set foot in Hogwarts!" Cedric continued his tall tale, ending on the one thing that was the farthest from the truth.

"Hah! That's funny! Percy Weasley? A trickster? I can't even imagine that one." Katie smiled and looked up at the ceiling. "That would be quite a sight."

The conversation silenced for a moment and Katie snapped her head up and leaped to her feet. "Oh!"

"Oh?" Cedric looked on oddly at her actions and tapped on the back of a chair with his left hand.

"Here!" Katie reached into her robes and pulled out two tightly rolled scrolls. "I accidentally grabbed your notes earlier. I realized it once I got to the Common Room."

"That means I must have gotten yours." Cedric clicked his tongue. "Right before I ran into you I put my bag into my dormitory."

"Ah, that's ok. I can get them in the morning or something." She handed the scrolls to him and Cedric took them, tucking them into his black and yellow trimmed robes that symbolized he was a Hufflepuff.

"Yeah, I'll bring them to breakfast or something." Cedric nodded and shifted his gaze to the window before shifting it back to the blonde standing before him. "So, Kate, about earlier . .." He began awkwardly, bringing his right hand to rub the base of his neck.

"Oh, yeah. Earlier." Katie felt a blush creeping upon her and she looked around the room. "I'm not usually _that_ forward." She replied honestly.

Cedric raised his eyebrows slightly and gave her a surprised look. "You? Not forward? I couldn't tell." Cedric had to dodge a quill that Katie pulled out of her robe's pocket and threw at him. "Aha." He cried happily when she missed.

"I'm being serious here, Cedric!" She protested as she crossed her arms over her chest with a huff.

"Ok, ok. I am sincerely paying attention now." Cedric nodded and looked at her seriously.

"Good to know." Katie told him as she unfolded her arms. "So . . . earlier . . ." She repeated his words.

"Yeah." Cedric cleared his throat. "Are we just _friends_ or is there something more to it?" He turned to where he wasn't facing her and looked out the half covered window. "Because, I'm fine being just friends, but there just can't be any repeats of today." He turned back around quickly to face her. "Because you are an attractive girl, you know. And things can get, er, difficult that way."

"Oh." She looked around everywhere but at him. "So this is the part where I ask you your feelings."

Cedric fidgeted for a moment and finally caught Katie's eye and held her gaze. "You've got me feeling like I'm eleven years old again, you know, and just developing my first crush."

"Ah, so you do have some crush-esque feelings?"Katie queried as she nervously blinked and looked down, breaking the brief gaze that had been shared.

Cedric inhaled to answer her question, "Well . . ."

* * *

**Ok. I have to end it there because I have a football game I've got to get ready for. So, don't hate me for the shortness please! **

**TheBrassPotato: It is so unfair that you don't start until September 6th! And yes, they were both quite idiots in the previous chapter. Oh, and I had to throw in some Nirvana into the picture. I absolutely love them and I figured that Nirvana would be pretty recent music since I believe the books are set in the mid 90s. **

**remembrant: LoL. Haha, excellent word choice to call Oliver a bimbo . . . I love it. I just might write a line like that into the story, with your permission of course.**

**QHLuver: Yeah, he needs to come to his senses! Wonder how long that will take . . . and double thanks for using awesome! **

**Maria Casey Wood: Hmm. You definitely had some good ideas that I will try my best to work in there. And yes, I think jealousy will become quite a theme in the whole Cedric/Katie/Oliver thing. And I'm still working on finding a creative way to let Angelina's feelings be known.**

**Spexy: For your first comment, only time will tell! Yes, Cedric is definitely an excellent choice I think, and now that I've gotten them together I think I'm going to have quite a fun time writing scenes with them (and having a not too pleased Oliver around is a bonus). Double thanks for the use of awesome! I swear, I'm addicted to that word.**

**Lia06: Yeah, writing from now on is going to be awesome now that it is slightly developing into a 'love' triangle. Well, there is four people included if you think of Emily, but I'm not sure what the proper term for that is. I'm glad you loved both the chapter and the story! Triple thanks for using 2 awesomes! Like I said, I am addicted to that word. **

**Many thanks to everyone who reviewed and I'll try to have a chapter up by the beginning of next week! Thankfully my muse has returned and the inspiration is beginning to flow! **

**-PiscesWeb25-**


	12. It's a Date?

**Notes: Ok. This one is slightly longer than the previous chapter. At some parts it could possibly be confusing, but I think most of you can understand it.**

**Rating: The beginning is pretty light, but there will be BWS-ing at the middle/end of the chapter. **

**Disclaimer: I think everyone knows by now that I do not own Harry Potter or anything related to Harry Potter.**

* * *

Katie nervously looked at Cedric as she waited for his response. _Ugh. I am -not- some giddy ten year old! I'm 16 years old! Why am I acting as if Cedric's response is the most important thing in the world. **Oh, I dunno Katie, maybe because . . . oh here's an idea . . . you like him, you thick dolt. **Excuse me, I am thinking to myself! I did not consult some airheaded conscience to invade my thoughts. **Hah. You just called yourself an airhead, you know that right? **Quit it! You and me are the same person, so stop making us seem stupid! **You started it. **Nu uh. **Yes huh. **Quit it! I am not crazy! Stop making me seem that way!_

"Katie?" Cedric asked, his gray eyes catching her own hazel ones. "Did you hear any of that?"

_Uh, no. I was arguing with myself. _She thought to herself, but decided that wasn't the sanest way to answer, "Oh, sorry, I was . . . thinking."

"Um, well then . . . I guess. Damn, I'm not good with words here." Cedric covered his face with his hands and let out a muffled statement.

Katie smiled inwardly. _I like him when he's like this. _She had to force herself to let out a small laugh. "I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that. I've never been that well at speaking Troll."

The Hufflepuff Seeker let out a groan and his hands slid down slowly from his face ad dropped down to his sides. "Gah, you're impossible. Do you -- would you like to go to Hogsmeade with me on the next visit?"

"Is it a date?" She raised one eyebrow at him in response.

"I was thinking more along the lines of me embarrassing myself horridly, but I think date is a proper term, yeah." Cedric nodded somewhat nervously.

"Most excellent." Katie finally let herself show her excitement and wrapped her arms around him and gave him a tight hug. She then thought of her meeting with Mischa and released him. "Oh no, Cedric, I . . . I can't."

"Oh." His voice fell slightly. "That's ok?" It came out as more of a question, but he didn't mean for it to sound that way.

"No, it's not ok, Cedric." She apologized. "It's just . . . Mischa is probably coming for a visit, and I don't want to have to rush off on you to go have a chat with her."

"I understand, Mischa's your sister, and from what I've heard she's living in Australia and you don't get to see her that often." Cedric nodded as he looked down at Katie who was still standing close to him.

"I really hate having to cancel on you moments after accepting." The former Gryffindor Chaser told Cedric truthfully.

"I understand. Really, I do." Cedric nodded in response. "Can we at least have a date tomorrow then?"

Katie cocked her head to the side. "Tomorrow? Where?" She looked up at him with a puzzled expression.

"Mm. In the library, for starters. And then wherever." He shrugged. "Just to have something to do."

"Ah, a study date." Katie nodded in agreement.

"To begin with, but not completely." He amended. "I don't want to sound like some complete school obsessed person here."

"Good to know." She gave him a smile. "I think I can make some room in my schedule . . . " She playfully acted as if she had a full schedule and had to work him in.

"Oh shut up." Cedric rolled his eyes and wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her up to where their lips met.Their lips meshed together in a relaxed kiss and Katie managed to place her arms around his neck and traced light patterns at the base of his neck, Cedric had to pull away from her when he began laughing. "Hey, that tickles."

Katie gave him a smile. "Now see, we can't go around kissing like this constantly." She said, pretending to be appalled at the idea of kissing someone in secret.

"We can't? That's news." Cedric gave her an odd look.

"No, we can't. Because then there is no mystery for the first date." She pointed out.

"Well, that was the third time . . . " The Hufflepuff reminded.

"The first two were just tests to see if you were a good kisser." She smirked at him and closed her eyes fora long moment. "And I'm pretty sure you passed that one."

"And the third time?" He inquired.

"That was all you." She said as her smile widened. "But, it can't happen an even amount of times before the first date."

Cedric blinked rapidly. "Excuse me? Where did that come from?"

"My head. It seems like a good enough rule." She nodded and folded her arms across her chest.

"You just made that up!"

"I did not! I have never kissed someone an even amount of times before the first date." Katie insisted.

"Uh huh." Cedric cast her an amused look. "You are odd, Katie Bell."

"And you are a good kisser, Cedric Diggory." She made a fancy bowing movement with her hands. "Now, I must be going before I have to kiss you another two times." She smirked and quickly made her exit.

Cedric was left standing there with an amused expression on his face. "Tomorrow should be exciting."

* * *

Sixth Year Girls' Dormitory

Katie sat at a little desk next to the window as she took advantage of the opportune time to write Mischa back.

"Dear Mischa," She read aloud to herself and then paused as she continued to write.

_Hey. The next Hogsmeade visit is set for September 28th. It's about two weeks away, so it will be a while before I can see you in person. I wish not to be the black cloud at the moment, but if I can't tell you, I certainly can't tell mum. Oliver kicked me off the team today. Yep. Four years of Quidditch came to a halt today. I s'pose dad will be quite angry. He seemed to enjoy having a daughter on the team after you, Miss Femininity. I can't say I really blame Oliver. Well, I can. He's a complete shithead. He seems to be dead set on blaming my social life for his actions. I ought to have slapped him right then and there. But, I didn't. I still think he can go screw himself. Ok. Enough of my teenage problems. On the plus side, I did have a date with Cedric Diggory, you know Amos and Ophelia Diggory's son. I had to cancel afterwards though, but I think they'll be more opportunities for us to goon a date throghout the year. Anyways,I'll look forward to seeing you in Hogsmeade. That is, if you can come. Tell the baby it's Auntie Katie loves it very much. Say hey to Dean. _

_Love-_

_Katie_

Katie opened the window and looked in either direction for a sign of her tiny owl, Exie. With no sign of the owl approaching, she decided that in order to send her message off, she'd have to go to the Owlery and find her owl or use a school one. _I'm taking a nap first. Mischa will have to bite me. _

So, she stalked over to her bed, set the letter on the nightstand and collapsed onto the fluffy single bed. Propping herself up just long enough to draw the privacy curtains around her.

Then she was left alone to her thoughts.

_Why would he do that? I know we were arguing. That seems almost constant with us now. So what if I wanted some time to catch up with my studies. He should understand that other people have needs too. He's in his Seventh Year. He'll probably get picked up for the Puddlemere United Reserves team, or something of the like. I know that's his favorite team. But, no. He has to go and be a complete arsehole. Now I don't give a flying fuck what happens to him. All because he's so bloody jealous. Wait. Jealous? Where did that come from? He isn't jealous of me and Cedric. Well, there is no me and Cedric_ _**at the moment**, but maybe the fact that I could have a possible boyfriend makes him mad because he knows I could be happy with someone while he can't. Hold on. Why am I inferring that I could be happy with Cedric? He's a fantastic person, so why **couldn't** I be happy with him? If we ever get around to a date, that is. And, why am I inferring Oliver couldn't be happy with a girl? Maybe once he gets his head lodged out of his arse it could be a possibility. Like that would ever happen. Merlin he's a prick. I hate him! So what me and him were arguing. It was one practice. I know damn well other people have missed practices before. Fourth Year, for example. Alicia skipped practice to go research for her Astrology paper. Did Oliver kick her off the team? I would think not. You know, I think tonight at our detention I'm going to confront him about that. I don't care if we aren't friends anymore, I love playing Quidditch. He isn't going to make my last two years at Hogwarts shitty because he wants to go act like a suck off all of a sudden._

Katie turned on her back and gazed up at the ceiling. It wasn't enchanted like the Great Hall, it was just a regular, drab ceiling. And the pure simplicity and plain appearance of it depressed Katie in a way. It was so dull and bleak. "And I'm just now taking the time to notice it. Fascinating." She rolled her eyes.

As she stared upwards, she realized something. She was hurt. Her sudden loss of friendship with Oliver had _hurt_. She wanted to be some cold bitch and pretend that she didn't care one way or another. But, this actually hurt. Oliver had been her friend, and now he wasn't. He, at one point, had been her best male friend. Now . . . he wasn't. He just simply _wasn't_. As she thought about it, it wasn't the fact that he had kicked her off the team that hurt. What was most painful was the fact that she had let it happen. They both had. Their tempers flared and they said what they had been longing to say for some time.

_Today has been so bloody bittersweet. I get kicked off of the Quidditch team, yet I'm closer to a relationship with Cedric. Oh fuck that, I know I'm in a relationship with Cedric, even if it isn't official. He wants to go on a date, I want to go on a date. I kissed him, he kissed me. I would think those are good enough reasons to consider ourselves in a relationship. What do I need to do, have sex with him to make that official? I think not. Jeez. Guys are just too complicated! They say we are, but I think not. Cedric has an attractive shy-guy athlete type of character, while Oliver is an impulsive, and I will admit attractive, athletic jerk. Jerk?_

"Yes, I think he is a shithead. He's been acting like one for the past month. Yes, he was acting daft." She assured herself with some Oliver bashing. "Maybe I was a tad out of line, but he was making me look selfish and twisting it to me wanting to spend time with Cedric. Which I do, but it's not necessary. I only wanted a break to get caught up with my studies. Is that a crime? Or is this what I signed up for when I joined the team?"

Sighing once again, she turned on her side just as the door opened. She saw from a small opening in her privacy curtains that it was Camille. "Hey." She said lazily as Camille closed the door.

"Katie, hey. I thought you went to go work on an essay with Cedric." Camille noticed as she went to her bed, though she could still see Katie since Iris, who occupied the bed between them, hadn't drawn her privacy curtains shut when she left and since Katie had now drawn hers back.

"I did. We decided to postpone it until tomorrow." The now ex-Chaser responded as she sat up and leaned on her headboard.

"Hm. I just ran into 'Licia who said that she talked to Oliver and he was calling a practice tomorrow." Cam said, obviously not knowing Katie's situation with the team at the moment.

"Yeah, well, the _team_ doesn't exactly apply to me anymore, Cam." Katie continued at Camille's confused expression as the other girl shrugged her robe off. "Oliver kicked me off the team."

"_What?_" Camille almost jumped. "But, you, Ange, and Alicia are the best Chaser's in the school. There's no way he'll win his precious Cup without you three as a trio." She shook her head. "He finally got his 'dream team' when Harry joined and now he wants to fuck it up?"

"Tell him that." Katie muttered. "All I did was ask for permission to not go to tomorrow's practice. He made it look like I wanted to spend more time with Cedric. Which I kind of do, but that isn't the major point! I want to catch up on my studies, that's all. But, no. Had to kick me off the team."

"He's a bimbo." Camille responded simply. "No other way to phrase it."

"Thanks for the support." Katie laughed. "But, at our detention with Snape tonight, I'm going to have a few choice words with him about that."

"Detention?" Camille asked as her eyes clouded with confusion. "How'd that come about?"

"Apparently Snape overheard the exchange of words between Oliver and me and gave us detention for using 'such language' in a school corridor. Please. I've heard First Years using language equivalent if not worse than what we say. I recall a Gryffindor First Year telling a Slytherin First Year to go fuck himself. Innocent, eh?"

"Snape looks for any excuse to give students detention. Especially Gryffindor." Camille shrugged. "Bastard."

"Yeah. Not to mention he took 20 points a piece from us." Katie frowned. "Sorry about that."

"Eh, Gryffindor will recover. Plus we have Harry." Camille smirked. "He always manages to get us a few extra at the end of the year."

"Yeah. Hopefully it won't be some perilous adventure. I feel bad for him from time to time. Danger just seems to find him." Cam nodded in response to Katie's statement.

"Well, I was just coming in to grab my Herbology notes for Angelina and Fred. Those two haev been spending lots of time together recently . . . but I won't assume anything." Camille shrugged as she rummaged through her bags. "I will say, Oliver _is _absurd when it comes to Quidditch. I don't know how you tolerated it this long." She picked up the right scroll that was needed for the assignment. "But, hey, now that Quidditch is kaput for you, you might be able to live a little."

"Yeah. Live a little." Katie sighed. _Not likely to work. Ugh. I should have said something. Maybe slapped him a few times. Maybe it was a spur of the moment decision. Kind of caught in the moment, 'oops it slipped' thing. I hope. I'll try and contain myself tonight when I talk to him. _"I'm going to take a nap before I have to go serve my detention. If Alicia is still downstairs, can you ask her to wake me up at around five, please?"

"Yeah, sure." Camille nodded. "If she isn't around I'm sure someone will be. Don't want to make you late for detention." She nodded before leaving the room scroll in hand.

"Don't want that." Katie muttered before laying back down on the bed and continuing to stare back up at the ceiling as she hummed the chorus of one of Angelina's favorite Smashing Pumpkins song, 'Bodies', until she finally closed her eyes and got some rest.

* * *

**Ta da! As much as I would love to continue, I think that is a good place to stop. I would like to thank everyone for reading the story, even if you don't review. And a double thanks to everyone who has reviewed! Now I must go work on unlucky chapter 13! Oliver will be back in the picture then, butI hope the number doesn't curse me . . .**

**Lia06:** I found that 'massachutah' thing hilarious! How can a guy marry two girls? Moving on . . . I think I need to join an Awesome Addicts Anonymous group. I wonder if I could get anyone else to join. Haha. And yeah, I hate ending things on cliffhangers, so I'll try not to make it happen as often. Yeps, being back at school sucks majorly. Anyhoo, thank ya much for reviewing and using awesome!

**Maria Casey Wood:** Thank you for such a sweet review! The story, my muse, and I feel very loved! And yeah, now I think it's safe that there are some feelings there between Katie and Cedric.

**rembrandt: **I borrowed your bimbo comment for this chapter, I just couldn't resist using it. I hope you don't mind! And yeah, when reading the books I can't ever picture Cedric as the whole 'playboy' kind of character either.

**Spexy: **Oliver is definitely dork (it's even funnier after you look up the definition of 'dork'). I guess he is just too dense to realize that his actions are only pushing Katie towards Cedric, someone who actually listens to her. Everyone has to feel that 'first crush' type of vibe in their life, don't they? I figured that was an appropriate term to use . . . anyways! Thank you for reviewing and for using awesome!

**TheBrassPotato: **September 8th? Grr . . . but since you reviewed, I won't harm you! I'm seeing a pattern with people not liking cliff hangers . . . I wonder why? hehehe. Friday (when I posted) wasn't an exceptionally great day . . . but it was Friday!

**Lady of Masbolle:** After you mentioned Robert Pattinson, I had to look up some information on him, because I have to say I'd never really paid that much attention to him . . . and to cut a long explaination short . . . now I will! Hehe. I'm glad to see you like the fic and thanks for the nice words.

**Ok everyone well now I must go work on Chapter 13! Everyone have a great day/night!**

**-PiscesWeb25-**


	13. The First Detention

**Ok. I knew the number 13 would curse me somehow. I got everything written, but when I looked at the word count it is under 2,000 (excluding the authors notes and the thank yous). I normally don't like posting less than 2,000 word Chapters on this story (except for the intro chapter), but there is no way I can lengthen it without dragging it out too long. So, don't throw sharp/hard objects at me because of the shortness! I'm fragile!**

**Rating: T**

**Disclaimer: Me no own Harry Potter!

* * *

**

Professor Snape's Office 7:35

Oliver Wood was exactly five minutes and twenty-six seconds late for his detention with Professor Snape. Not a good sign when serving detentions, especially detentions with the Potions teacher. The door to Snape's office was already opened, and he went in and saw the disapproving teacher sitting at his desk.

"Mister Wood," He began in his slimy voice, "You are over five minutes late." He simply stated, not bothering to look up from his desk where he was scrawling something on a piece of parchment. "As is Miss Bell." A smirk that was hidden from Oliver's view crept onto his face. "Until your fellow house-mate decides to show up, I want you to wait outside my office."

Oliver glared at the Professor and turned his back to him and made to walk out of his office before the Professor interrupted.

"I saw that Mister Wood, and that's five points from Gryffindor for disrespect." His voice was cold and dark.

The Gryffindor Quidditch Captain paused and closed his eyes briefly, willing himself not to retort something back to the much hated Potions Professor. After his slight hesitation, he walked the rest of the way out of Snape's office.

He looked this way and that for any sign of Katie in the damp dungeon area. The corridor was illuminated with torches, the pools of light dancing about the walls. _Come on, Katie. If you want to be late for a detention, be late for Flitwick or Binns. Not Snape. _Oliver mentally cursed his Chaser, correction, ex-Chaser.

Even from the hallway he heard Snape let out a satisfied sigh. _He's just loving this. Even more reason to take points off of Gryffindor. That man leaves a sick life if this is his idea of entertainment. Pathetic. It's sick, that's simply what it is. _

Three minutes later, just as Snape was about to get out of his chair and come to the door, Oliver heard the echo of footsteps coming down the corridor. It was either Katie or some random Slytherin. Even after the events of the day, he would rather it be Katie than some Slytherin scum.

As the steps grew closer, they quickened, and soon enough the figure was close enough for Oliver to realize that it was indeed Katie Bell. "You're late." He told her as she approached.

"I believe that I would know of my own tardiness." She snapped coldly as she bypassed him and stepped into the uninviting office of Severus Snape. "Professor." She addressed the man that was now standing out of his seat.

"I see you have decided to join us, Miss Bell." His tone was the same he had addressed Oliver in moments before. "You are eight minutes late. That brings the total amount of points take off of your house to thirteen points." He gave a sadistic smile. "Thanks to your fellow team-mate," He laughed before correcting himself, "I mean _house_ mate's disrespect losing you an additional five points."

The Professor's slip up hadn't gone unnoticed and before inwardly cringing at the realization that Katie was in fact off the team, Oliver glanced over to see what Katie's reaction was. She stood emotionless, something she seemed to be perfecting these days. The look on her face was worse than one of sadness or of anger. It was just . . . blank.

"But, onto your detentions." The Professor's voice picked up an even more sick tone as he began to reveal their punishments. "Writing a line over and over again crossed my mind, but I've decided that after a particular class decided to nearly ruin my classroom, there is nothing more suiting than for you two to clean up my lab."

_Easy enough._ Katie thought prematurely.

"The Muggle way." Snape added after a long pause.

_Fuck._ Katie inwardly groaned. _What's the point of being magical if you can't use magick! _

"I intend for the classroom to be cleaned by midnight. If it isn't, you'll stay until it is spotless." Snape sneered. "And if I find _anything_ missing the consequences will be dire for the both of you. Am I clear?"

"Certainly, Professor." Katie muttered in her best false tone.

"You know your way to my classroom." Snape looked at them as if he was trying to bore into them with his eyes. "I will not waste my time escorting you two, but if I hear of any detours or unnecessary stops . . . detentions can be expanded." He continued to eye them maliciously before resuming his seated position. "You are dismissed from my office."

Katie and Oliver made their way out of Snape's office and into the corridor as quickly as humanly possible.

They had walked a mere six feet before Katie opened her mouth. "How was practice, _Wood_?"She said his name as if she was saying someone's name who she absolutely loathed, such as Marcus Flint.

"I haven't found a replacement, if that's what you mean." Oliver told her, his voice less harsh than hers had been.

"I simply asked how practice went. Nothing more, nothing less." The former Gryffindor Chaser said as they continued to walk along the dimly lit corridor.

"It went fine." Oliver told her civilly. "Angelina was slightly below her regular throwing accuracy and Fred and George made it a point to direct every bludger towards the goals. Or more pointedly, me."

"All I have to say on the matter of me being off of the team is that I am not the only player that has missed or requested to miss a practice." Katie added as she turned her head and was looking directly forward at the long corridor.

"I am aware of that, Bell." It took Oliver a moment to respond to her statement. Earlier when he had prematurely kicked her off of the team, he hadn't thought of the fact that she wasn't the only one who had ever missed or requested to miss a practice.

"Then what makes my situation different?" She wanted to scream at him in her frustration, but thought better of it and simply asked the question as if she was talking to a professor.

Oliver didn't answer for a long while. He was wracking his brain for some intelligent response; searching for some sort of excuse to why her situation was different.

There wasn't one.

"I'm waiting, Oliver." She now used his first name as they stopped in front of Snape's classroom. "Give me an excuse, any excuse for why my situation is different than that of someone else's."

"Because you have been getting out of hand lately." Oliver told her in a weak attempt at an excuse.

The words Katie had been preparing to say caught in her throat. She blinked. Once. Twice. "Out of hand?" His response hadn't been one she had been prepared for. She had expected him to say he was wrong, give her another chance . . . something other than this. "How am I out of hand?"

"I'm sure the situation with Emily wasn't out of hand at all, Katie." Oliver said sarcastically to where the words seemed to dig into her skin, leaving an imaginary scar.

"This isn't fair! I didn't do anything wrong to harm the team!" She objected as a look of confusion clouded her eyes and she fought back the urge to slam her fists into the hard wooden door. As she thought about it, Oliver wouldn't have been a bad choice to give a good punch to either.

"Think about it, Katie." Oliver continued. "If you would have injured yourself or gotten caught, don't you think that would affect the team! You could have gotten suspended by McGonagall or Dumbledore!"

"But I didn't! That's the point! I didn't get caught!" She protested as she looked up at him in horror. "You can't kick me off of the team for getting in a fight! How many countless times have you and Flint come to blows? Or Fred and George and their countless pranks! Don't you think that if they ever got caught pulling the stunts that they pull that they could get suspended off of the team! Why is it me that you are taking action against?"

"I had to start somewhere." Was his dull response, his voice not quite backing up his statement.

At his simple response Katie wanted to turn in run in the other direction. What had happened to the friend she had known? "Why are you acting like this Oliver? I didn't do anything wrong!" She protested.

"If attacking an innocent girl isn't wrong, then what is?" He asked her, pushing the door open.

Katie didn't make a move to go inside. "An _innocent_ girl? _Innocent?_ In what way was Emily Bradshaw innocent?" She rhetorically snapped. "She had as major a role in the incident as I did. She initiated the whole thing with her snide comments and her taunting."

"If Emily did all these things you claim she did, why did she chose to cause something that she knew would result in the physical harm of herself?" The Gryffindor Keeper pointed out to his one time friend.

The ash blonde former Gryffindor Chaser wanted to scream at the fact that he was continuously defending Emily. "I don't know!" She hissed through clenched teeth. "Because she is a stupid whore who would risk anything to keep you all to herself." She looked over her shoulder and glared at him. "We have work to do, and I don't want to be in here for the rest of the night." She looked ahead of her at the mess that was in the magically illuminated Potions classroom. "If you don't mind, I'd appreciate it if there was as minimal talking between us as possible."

"Fine with me." Oliver brushed past her, pushing her into the door frame. Without caring he began his task at the very front of the room.

It took all of Katie's will power to not hex him from behind, but she didn't. She walked to the far back corner of the room and began the task of cleaning the splatter off of the shelves.

If this was what the rest of the week was going to be like between them, she wouldn't bother saying another word to him. _She_ wasn't going to beg to be allowed back on a team she had every right to be on. _He_wasn't going to be able to find a replacement in time for their first match against Slytherin. The Quidditch Cup was too important to him for him to risk not having the best team possible. She was the only one that worked smoothy with Alicia and Angelina; the chemistry the three of them had together as teammates. _He_ was going to be begging for her to be back on the team, not the other way around.

* * *

**For those of you who wanted to see more action than that, I'm sorry. That scene wasn't quite right for what I had in mind. **

**rembrandt:** --- I got it right this time! I so wanted to call him a bimbo in this chapter, but I think it would have a better result if it was in front of more people when someone said it. O, conflict is right!

**Lia06: **Yep. Several of my friends have agreed, I definitely need a support group. AAA I think. Awesome Addicts Anonymous. And I won't ask how he can marry two girls at once. He seems like an amusing person, though.

**TheBrassPotato: **Haha. Well, here is a little dose of Oliver. I am afraid to say that you can't steal this Oliver and hide him in your closet! I need him for my story! lol. But, at least he's loved by you even though he is being an ass. Which, I'm not saying Katie is being an angel either . . .

**Lady of Masbolle: **Let me know when you find that link! I'm curious to know what he looks like, for I've only seen like one picture of him and it wasn't that great of an angle.

**Spexy: **Cedric and Katie as a couple is growing on me as well . . . at first I wasn't going to pair her up with him, but some other character like Lee or whatnot. Hm, Oliver begging for forgiveness would be most entertaining. . .

**Beexyanca:** This was a minor run in. There will definitely be more in the future.

**Well, that's that. I am about to start working on the next chapter! My muse is feeling creative, there is Led Zeppelin music playing, and it's a beautiful day here! So . . . I'm off! Toodles!**

**-PiscesWeb25-**


	14. Unexpected Actions

**I'm back! I've been paying loads of attention to other projects, and I felt bad about not touching this story for a while. This chapter will definitely be, erm, different.**

**Rating: T. Yep. No language, but there are some suggestive themes, as they are called.**

**Disclaimer: I. Do. Not. Own.**

* * *

Their first detention with Snape didn't go well at all. The Potions room had been completely caked in residue from potions gone bad. And not your everyday 'bad', but more like warzone bad. How the students had managed to make this big of a mess puzzled Katie and Oliver both. Oliver knew it had to be one of the last classes Snape had on Friday, because he had Potions right before lunch on Fridays. Katie didn't have him on Fridays, but she was still amazed and what a mess had been made since she had last seen the lab on Thursday.

The tension between Oliver and Katie didn't cease one bit throughout the entire detention. It was as if they had made a silent rule for Oliver to concentrate on cleaning the front of the room and Katie the back of the room. There was a maximum of around ten words uttered between the two. And when words were exchanged they were more of rude and impatient requests such as 'pass the sponge' and stupid little phrases. Neither of them attempted to break the silence that ensued for the rest of the night.

Snape had dropped in at around ten, when Katie and Oliver were a little over half way done. The shock hadn't been in his sudden appearance, but at the fact that he was somewhat pleased at their progress. Or maybe it was the fact that he could feel the tension in the room and was pleased with the fact that he had them stuck in a room together that they couldn't get out of until he said so. He had silently inspected the all ready clean areas and felt no need to complain about them being unsatisfactory nor did he praise either of them for a job well done. He left after telling them he would be back at quarter till midnight.

True to his word, he had arrived at that time. Not a second late. "This will do." He announced, not even bothering to check over the area they had cleaned since he had last been to the Potions classroom. "Be back here tomorrow night as soon as dinner is over."

With a nod, Katie and Oliver eagerly exited the Potions room and made their way through the dungeon corridors, staying as far away from each other as possible. No attempt at conversation was made, nor was it expected by either of them.

"Slytherin will pummel you." Katie told him as they entered the main hall from the dungeons.

"I can do well enough without one Chaser." Oliver replied shortly. "All I have to do is stick someone on a broom out there. They don't necessarily have to be able to play."

"That's sad." The ex-Chaser let out a rueful laugh. "Your last year at Hogwarts and you are actually risking your chance of winning the Cup. I would have never have thought."

"You would have never have thought about a lot of things, Katie." The male responded scathingly.

"That one was low, Wood. I can't say I expect anything more of you." She smirked to herself as she replied to him in the same tone he had used with her.

"How fun it is to trade insults with someone. Please don't attack me for that one." He continued to bitterly exchange remarks with her.

"I wouldn't want to jeopardize Gryffindor's chance of winning the cup any more than necessary." She replied vaguely.

"You think you could do that much damage?" Oliver let out a sarcastic laugh. "You over rate yourself."

"Care to test that theory?" Her reply was dead serious, as if she was reminding herself and Oliver that this wasn't friendly banter between the two as it would have been at any other time.

"I wouldn't want to be caught." Oliver backed down using a logical excuse.

"Since when does getting caught matter?" She leaned on the railing and decided to taunt him. "Well, I s'pose that I wouldn't want to be worn out or anything for my date tomorrow. You know how that is, right?"

"Let me say a prayer for the bloke." Oliver muttered loud enough for her to hear.

"I think _Cedric_ can handle me just fine." Katie toyed lightly with her silver pentacle necklace before rolling her eyes. "Admit you're jealous, _Ollie._"

If he wouldn't have been distracted, he could have easily read that she was playing around with him. Teasing and manipulating him, a tactic he was aware that she had used against other people, but not ever against him. Until now.

"I'm jealous, Kates." He answered, stepping a little closer to the railing. "See, I admit it. Why won't you?" He closed the gap to where one of his legs brushed against hers and he placed both hands on either side of her.

Her tactic wasn't quite going as planned. For starters, he was a lot closer than she felt she could handle. She couldn't help the fact that she was sexually and physically attracted to him, it just kinda happened like that. "What am I jealous of, Ollie?" The name rolled off of her tongue lightly and any other time it would have annoyed Oliver greatly.

"You're just jealous," He bent his head down and it looked as though he was about to kiss Katie's lips when he paused about a centimeter away and lowered his voice to where it could barely be heard by her, "that you can't have me."

A smile flickered across Katie's face. "I could very much have you. Anytime and any place I wanted." She shifted her position to where her left leg came between the both of his. "I could have you right here if I wanted."

"What's stopping you?" Oliver teased, sliding his head down to where his face was level with her neck. He blew out air on the curve of her neck, refusing to place his lips anywhere on her body.

"I want to see you beg." She ran her hands lightly through his hair before pulling his head back up level with hers.

"I won't do that." He replied, not fully giving into her. "How do I know you don't do this to every guy you want something from? Does that make you any better than Emily?" He picked up his right hand and wrapped it loosely around her neck, sliding his hand back and forth slowly.

"So you know she's a whore?" She closed her eyes for a moment to enjoy the feeling of part of his skin on hers. "Coming from me in this situation, it doesn't sound quite as powerful. And no, I don't do this to every guy I want something from. I'm just in too deep at the moment. As are you, admit it."

"Fine. I'm attracted to you. Is that what you want to hear?" Oliver stopped the movement of his hand and tilted her head to where he could look into her eyes.

"Do you want me, Oliver?" She opened her eyes and made contact with his dark brown ones, she couldn't barely control the words coming out of her mouth. Something had happened inside her in those moments since leaving Snape's classroom.

"Do you really have to ask that question, Katie?" His eyes were locked with hers and he was attempting to read if she was serious or if she was just playing around with him in a twisted game, her eyes were dimmed due to the scarce lighting in the hall at night and therefor, unreadable.

"I want to hear you say it." She began to rub the inside of his thigh with her leg that was positioned inbetween his own legs.

"Where are you going with this?" He pulled his head away from hers slightly, but kept his body somewhat interlocked with hers. "What about Cedric, Katie?"

"I like Cedric a lot." She admitted. "But, I'm just so drawn to you. Maybe it's physical or sexual even, but it's something that I can't figure out."

"You need to figure it out." He bent his head down and kissed her on the cheek rather than the lips. He pulled away just enough to where his lips brushed across her skin when he talked. "We need to figure it out."

"We aren't making it any easier." She was dying to turn her head and capture his lips with hers, but she didn't and tilted her head back some more, his lips falling from her cheek into thin air.

"I didn't say it had to be easy." He corrected, placing a hand on the side of her stomach.

"I can't do this to Cedric." She finally said, snapping back into reality.

"You started this." Oliver pointed out, still not removing his hand from her body.

"I didn't think it would be like this." Katie admitted truthfully.

"Neither did I." The Gryffindor Keeper admitted with as much truth.

"You can't tell anyone, Oliver. None of this happened, ok?" She was suddenly somewhat frightened for her image. The side of her that had been recently displayed was dissolving just as quickly as it had been revealed.

"It did happen, Katie." Oliver replied, even though she didn't need reminding.

"We need to get back to the Common Room." Katie switched the topic and retracted her leg from between his and pushed him back off of her.

"We need to _talk_." The Scotsman replied in all seriousness.

"Please not now." She begged with her eyes.

"Why the sudden change of emotions?" He queried suspiciously.

"I don't normally act like this, Oliver. Ok?" She firmly stated in a voice a little over a whisper.

"All right. Fine." Oliver backed off even more. "Calm down. We'll talk about it later."

She nodded meekly. Katie felt so strange. What had happened? Where did all that come from? How was she going to act around Cedric?

**

* * *

**

Not quite that long, but I felt that I needed to update. It's been like a week or close to it since I've last updated on this one.

TheBrassPotato: Here's a bigger dose of Oliver. Hehe. Yeah, you could say they are on speaking terms at the moment.

**DerisiveButterfly: **Thanks for reviewing chapters 10-13. I liked your comment about sarcasm in Chapter 11. Gave me a laugh. It seems as though the, erm, fighting just might be over at the moment. And, no I don't care at all. I actually saw the word in someone else's fic and thought it might be an interesting name to give him. I can't remember the pen name of the person though. And if you wrote something, I know I'd read it!

**Spexy: **Yes, boys are just complete idiots sometimes. I would find it highly amusing to write Katie beating up on Oliver. Loads of fun.

**Lady of Masbolle :** Drats. The link didn't show up. Maybe you could e-mail them to me or something. My e-mail address is in my profile.

**Maria Casey Wood: **Loved your outburst. Hahaha. And I think I might be able to write in some Oliver begging now.

**Lia06: **Even more tension in this chapter, I'd think. That guy friend of yours would fit in nicely with some of my friends. They tend to come up with some similar stuff.

**wandless: **Ah. I will work on the feistiness. It rocks, really? I feel honored and I shall definitely keep writing. And to your Chapter 12 comment: Those were only the temporary pairings, because at the moment Katie is with Cedric and Oliver is with Emily. As you can see, there are other feelings floating about, it's just taking a while to get to that.

**ciara512: **I will definitely try and keep it up! Thanks for reviewing!

**Thanks much to everyone who reviewed, please keep on reviewing! I hope it won't be as long until the next update . . . it all depends on the feedback.**

**-PiscesWeb25-**


	15. Hermione and Emily

**Note: I apologize for not updating in forever! I could ramble on with some excuses, but I'll spare everyone's time. And yes, this is short. I'm debating on whether or not to just continue having shorter chapters. Not sure yet. **

**Rating: T**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I own a headache. Think JK Rowling would like to trade?**

* * *

Katie and Oliver had decided to use alternate routes to get back to the Gryffindor Common Room. It was the only way to avoid an awkward walk back. Katie had taken a shorter route, while Oliver had opted for a slightly longer detour through the castle. Hopefully, if any teachers stopped them, they'd believe their stories about being in detention with Snape. They were pretty trustworthy students, well, to everyone except Snape . . . and then there was that incident between Oliver and Professor Trelawney not too long ago, but she was a loon and no one really cared what her views on things were, save Dumbledore.

Upon arriving back to the Common Room, Katie noticed that there was a lone figure sitting in a comfy chair in a corner by the window. A very much asleep Hermione Granger, hunched over a thick textbook. Katie shook her head and decided not to leave Hermione asleep in such an uncomfortable position. "Psst. Hermione." She walked to where she was about two feet from the Third Year, who she really only knew since the younger girl was friend's with Fred and George's younger brother, Ron.

When the bushy-haired Gryffindor didn't budge, she stepped closer and lightly shook Hermione by the shoulder. "Hermione?"

This time there was a grumbled response and when Hermione crossed and uncrossed her legs as she reached sub-consciousness, the heavy textbook fell to the ground with a loud _thud!_ causing the book to slam shut and Hermione to jump into full awareness. "Oh. Oh. OH!" Hermione let out an alarmed response. "I can't believe I fell asleep."

"Yeah. Didn't want to leave you there all uncomfortable like that." Katie politely told the younger Gryffindor.

"Thanks." She stretched her arms in front of her and sighed as she saw the large book on the ground. "It's just all this work. Even I can't hardly handle it."

"How many classes are you taking?" Katie inquired, remembering that no other person in their Third Year took as long as Hermione to finish up their work.

"I lost count." The sitting female leaned forward and picked up the book. "I've just began to get caught up in Binns' class, and now Sprout assigns this essay . . ." She let out a frustrated mumble of words Katie didn't quite catch.

"If you ever need any help, feel free to ask me." Katie nicely offered. "Well, I'm still behind in my classes, but I always enjoyed Herbology."

"From what I hear you have a very different problem." Hermione said with a hint of displeasure in her voice.

"What?" Katie sat down on a seat across from Hermione.

"Oliver Wood. Running everyone mad with his training sessions. I overheard Alicia, Angelina, and Fred talking about it earlier." Hermione rolled her eyes. "I think it's absurd that someone limits others peoples time for their studies."

"Ah, well. I don't have that problem at the moment." Katie said it now like she believed it would be a temporary thing. If what happened downstairs was anything, she should be back on the team in two days time.

"Hm?" Hermione for once looked puzzled, something that shocked and somewhat amused Katie.

"Dear Woodie kicked me off the team." Katie sunk back into the oh-so-comfortable chair.

"What? Is he completely insane?" The bushy-haired female looked even more puzzled now, furthering Katie's amusement.

"I'll get back to you on that one. But, I don't know. I see why he would kick me off, but I just don't think it's a good enough reason." The darker haired Gryffindor blew out a breath of air. "Lets not get into the lengthy story tonight."

"Ah. I really would like to hear it all, but I am just dead tired." To add to her words, Hermione's hand flew to her mouth to cover a yawn. "Sorry." Was her muffled apology.

"Compared to Fred and George, that's polite. No worries." Katie gave a smile. Hermione wasn't some stuck up book nerd that some of the other people liked to label her as. She was actually a decent, mature Third Year who just happened to bite off more than she could chew academic wise.

"Oh no. Please don't compare me to those two. Really, they are just downright idiots." Hermione said in a very uncharacteristic way.

"I don't think I've ever heard you call someone an idiot before." Katie let out a small laugh. "Good use of words, and I think it's fitting at times."

"Why thank you. I do let something slip on occasion." She rose from her sitting position and crammed some books into a carry bag. "Nice chatting with you, Katie. I'll see you in the morning." She gave Katie a smile. "Thanks for waking me up."

"No problem Hermione. I'd like to think you'd do the same for me." She called to the younger girl, who was already on the girls stairs. Hermione gave a nod and a smile as her response and disappeared.

There was no sign of Oliver coming into the room at any sensible time, and Katie suddenly got a set of chills. Moving to the couch in front of the fire, Katie slowly did what Hermione did . . . and fell asleep in the Common Room, but in a much more comfortable position, curled up on the couch.

Of all the people to run into while walking back to the Common Room, it had to be Emily. What the hell was Emily doing out and about at midnight? Even on days there weren't classes there were curfews to when students could be out of the halls.

"Emily?" Oliver jogged down a flight of stairs when he saw his girlfriend. "What are you doing?"

"Oh - oh - Oliver." Emily nervously stammered in a tone that to Oliver sounded as though she was startled. "I was -- looking for me." She shook her head fervently. "I mean _you_."

He looked at her suspiciously. "Is everything ok, Em?" He didn't know whether to be worried or skeptical of the Hufflepuff.

"Yes. Yes!" She nodded to convince him. "I was just walking around. When I remembered that you had detention tonight I figured I'd try and find you over this way."

_Aw hell. Did she see anything? _Now Oliver was the nervous one. "Oh yeah. Snape kept us a bit late."

"Us? So that's where Bell was coming from then?" Emily had a sneer on her face as she uttered Katie's last name.

"Yes. I thought I told you I had detention with Katie. Did you and her have a row, Em?" Oliver attempted to study Emily's features to see if there was any harm done to her.

"No. I saw her from a distance. I didn't want to bother with interrupting her." Emily said, casting her focus to the side of the hall. "Since when do you call that thing _Bell_?"

"Habit, Emily." Oliver masked his tone of annoyance with his girlfriend.

"Sure." Emily was bored of the conversation and gave a false yawn. "I'm going to go to sleep now. I'll see you in the morning." She came over to give Oliver a hug and said in a whisper. "_I saw what happened, _dear, _and if it happens again, you will regret it. You will not make a fool of me._" She pulled out of the stiff embrace and looked at Oliver with a death glare and added. "This relationship ends on my terms, not yours."

Oliver looked at her stunned. She gave a stiff wave and turned and left.

Katie was being shook awake by someone who didn't seem to realize they had a firm grip on her shoulders. "Go away." She made to turn out of their grip, but failed. "I don't want any."

"You wanted some earlier." The voice had a teasing tone to it and Katie immediately realized who it was who was so rudely waking her up.

"Shut it." She replied as she rolled and buried her head between the back of the couch and the pillow.

"Iris and Jon were getting hot and heavy on this couch earlier, you know. Who knows what came of it." Oliver said as she tried to get away from being woke up.

"Oh. Ew." She kicked her legs and nearly knocked Oliver off the edge of the couch as she sat up.

"Yeah." He nodded and stood up. "We really need to talk about things."

"Thank you captain obvious." Katie rolled her eyes and cast Oliver an annoyed look.

* * *

**There is that short little bit. Basically the point of this Chapter is to . . . I dunno, have some interaction between not similar characters (Katie and Hermione) and add some drama to the whole Emily/Oliver/Katie/Cedric thing. It can't be pretty now that Emily knows about what happened after detentions, now can it?**

**DerisiveButterfly: **Yes, I would, so get writing. Hehe.

**TheBrassPotato: **Hormones is right! The 'talk' will be coming up sometime soon.

**Eruaphadriel: **Oh yay, you haven't quit reviewing! I understand about you being busy, but I'm glad you're back! Stellar? Really? Thank you! And thank you for putting awesome in there.

**Beexyanca: **I like your opening sentence! "Oh my!" It sounded like something I would say after reading something like that. I'm so happy you loved it, sorry for not updating quickly though.

**Spexy: **Sexiness is good. Hehe. Maybe they'll hook up . . . eventually. Or maybe I'll be a mean person and never ever have that happen. We shall see . . .

**Lia06: **Yes, tension between the two is fun to write. Especially when they act really stupid and when they obviously have feelings for each other. Though, how deep or shallow the feelings are I can't reveal.

**QHLuver: **I hope it isn't a 'I hate you now, I shall never, ever read your stories again because you ruined this one.' type of wow. Maybe that's just me being a retard . . .

**rembrandt: **He will beg somehow, believe me. Yes, Oliver Wood will be called a bimbo. Not sure by who yet or where. But a large crowd is likely. And yeah, sometimes I'll just be talking with my friends, and they'll say something and I'll bedazed and it totallyflies over my head andafter a long pause I'll repeat it and be like 'what?'.

**Ok. Do not let the friendly chit chat between Katie and Oliver mislead you . . . everything is not suddenly all peachy with them. Just thought I'd make that clear. Until next time . . .**

**-PiscesWeb25-**


	16. You Do? I Can't! I Won't!

**Notes: Aha! It didn't take me a week this time! Yay!**

**Rating: T**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter! **_

* * *

_

_"Thank you captain obvious." Katie rolled her eyes and cast Oliver an annoyed look._

"Care to elaborate on what we need to talk about?" Katie continued. "For I think that our list on 'stuff to talk about' grows longer by the moment, or so it seems."

"Erm, well, yes. I think we need to go in terms of . . . importance." Oliver didn't quite know if he was using the best wording ever, but he thought that Katie would pick up on it anyway. As Katie took the time to get herself off of the couch that Iris and Jon had gotten – whatever they had done – on. She moved to a smaller couch at an angle to the couch, and Oliver sat in the chair next to her. She turned slightly so that they could look at each other to better understand each other.

"Importance? In that case I think we need to talk about the whole you kicking me off of the House Team incident." Katie pressed, going with the event that seemed to have spawned all the trouble in the first place. Well, one of the major events to be more precise. If you wanted to get down to exacts it would all start – _Not going there._ Katie reminded herself.

"Katie, don't you think that just maybe – _maybe_ – what happened tonight ranks pretty high up there in terms of importance." Oliver looked at her questioningly. "Don't get me wrong, we have a lot of issues, but you know — you can't exactly leave me in limbo here."

"Tonight was just suppressed feelings that's built up over the years. It's natural, really." Katie shrugged and was somewhat alarmed at Oliver's outburst of laughter.

"Natural? What happened tonight in the hall wasn't something every friend does with another _friend_. I don't think you can Lee walk around feeling each other up and the like." Oliver gave out a more rueful laugh. "Correct me if I'm wrong now."

"No I don't tend to do that with every friend I have ever made." She then added more quietly. "Fourth Year is another matter."

"I quite remember that, thanks. Half the school wanted to shag you, not to mention the majority of the older students. Lets not go back to that year." Oliver covered his eyes with his hand. "All four of you went through that 'stage' at once."

"Ach. Iris, Alicia, Angelina and myself were just expressing our inner selves." Katie gave an eye roll. "Its not like you didn't go through your man-whore days."

"Excuse me, I was not the one wearing revealing clothes in the dead of winter." The Keeper made his point and Katie had no response.

"In all seriousness, Oliver, what do I need to do to get on the team?" Katie gave an almost pleading look. "Do I need to clean the team's brooms? Try out for the team again? Do extra practice sessions? I would really do anything."

"Anything?" Oliver teased in a suggestive tone, lowering his voice for an added effect.

"Anything _Quidditch_ related." Katie amended before adding 'pervert' in a near whisper.

"Got my hopes up for nothing then. How not nice." Oliver shared a smile with Katie, and for the moment all was well. "Don't push yourself too hard. I'll get Alicia or Angelina to bring you up to speed with recent plays and strategies. I'll have to make sure you're still up to speed on your technique, but I think you should have a secure spot on the team in a weeks time." He looked away from her. "I admit I wasn't using a Captain's mind when I kicked you off the team earlier. More of an angry friend – or whatever I was, er, am now."

"Yes, well I am glad you have realized your mistake. And I'll try my best to get back into the swing of things, after all, I've only missed one practice." Katie pointed out to her Quidditch obsessed 'friend'.

"One practice can make a world of difference." Oliver told her lightly, before they fell into a long silence.

"Katie . . ."

"Ol – " Katie and Oliver began talking at the same time and each of their words came out rushed, not giving the other time to stop talking.

"I'm real confused," Katie was saying

"I think we should," Oliver continued in a rush.

" . . . about all this, but . . ." Katie was ignoring Oliver unintentionally as she rambled on.

" . . . it could work, Kate, . . ."

" . . . we need to distance ourselves and . . ."

" . . . all I've got to do is deal with Emily . . ."

"I at least owe one date to Cedric." Katie finished just as Oliver was wrapping his sentence up.

"We could go somewhere with this – us – you know." Oliver finished and finally processed what Katie had been saying, just as she realized what he had said.

"No." The echoed together, but both for different reasons.

"We can barely stay friends, Oliver, I'm scared to attempt anything more with you at the moment," Was Katie's brief, yet killer response.

"Something is there. I'm not calling it some epic storybook romance, but there's something. Feeling. How can you be so sure that it wouldn't work?" Was Oliver's argument.

"Oliver. There are countless reasons and you know it. The most obvious being that we both are in relationships. You have Emily just as I have Cedric." Katie's hazel eyes dimmed in disapproval as she reminded the male that they couldn't just spill there emotions and suddenly begin dating.

"Emily – Emily isn't the person I thought she was. She's . . . for starters she knows what happened tonight and is more than willing to literally raise Hell to get her way about it." As he said the words, the Gryffindor Keeper realized he may have helped kill his point even more.

"She knows? Even more reason for not having a relationship. Anyone could take her in a fight, Oliver, but she is sneaky and has other means of getting her way. I don't want to be in the midst of that." Katie stubbornly refused to even think of having a relationship with Oliver that went beyond the boundaries of friends.

"Quit with the conservative, considerate shit, Katie. It's not what you want." Oliver pressed. "You finally express what you want and then you go back on it. Great, Katie. Fucking brilliant."

Katie glared at him and folded her arms across her chest. "Don't ask for what you can't handle, Wood."

"Continue by all means, Bell. I won't stop you." Oliver insisted, his right eyebrow slightly arching in anticipation.

"I think you are completely full of yourself and that your ego is so inflated it's disgusting." She decided to continue with the blunt truth. "I also think that you are incredibly attractive and athletic. I'd drop any guy in Hogwarts for an hour with you, if everything is based on lust. You don't think things though, and act on impulse often not thinking of others who are affected by your actions." Katie paused for a long moment. "Even now when I'm trying to be as honest as possible, it's hard to concentrate. You make me nervous, and I don't know why. Take that as whatever you wish, but if our personalities were to clash, it wouldn't be pretty for a relationship and possible ruin our basic friendship."

"I appreciate your honesty." Oliver said after a moment's silence. "I can't make you admit it Katie, but you know that something could work with us. Emily or no Emily."

"Don't treat Cedric as if he isn't a major factor in this." Katie snapped. "He has just as much to do with it as Emily."

"By all means lets not forget Hogwarts' Golden Boy." Oliver sarcastically told her before arising from his seat. "He's the only reason you aren't acting upon your instincts."

"Fuck you, Oliver. I am decent enough to not cheat on someone who I am led to believe I am in a relationship in. Your morals are certainly different than mine." She too arose after flinging th covers off of her. "He cares about me and isn't using me for some piece on the side." Katie narrowed her eyes and stared Oliver dead in his own chocolate eyes. "I don't want something when it is convenient for you."

Oliver willed himself to not grab her and shake her rapidly. "You are missing the whole point! I don't want you for 'something on the side' I'm talking a full blown relationship. No Cedric, no Emily. None of that. And being 'convenient' for me? Are you making this stuff up? I swear you are, and you're coming off slightly mad." Oliver suppressed an out of place laugh as he looked at her reaction. "I'm not going to blurt out some big 'I love you' speech, because what do I know about love? And I don't like to throw that word around lightly, you know, but I know you don't love me romantically and at the present time I don't love you romantically, and I'm not saying it will ever come to that, but what do we know? Can't we just give _something_ a shot."

"I can't." Katie simply said, his words still ringing in her ears and the trueness of it all.

"You _won't_." The Keeper corrected. "You can, yet you won't." He looked at her once more and walked past her, avoiding all contact with her as he made his was up the boy's stairway.

_Oliver! Oliver, I'm sorry! I just can't! Ok, I can't! _She was tempted to scream out, but she didn't. What good would it do? She had yet again gained her spot on the team, but somehow lost a piece of her mind along the way.

* * *

**Why do I feel like I'm getting no where with this? Hm. I'm going to write the little date with Cedric tomorrow and then I think I'll skip a period of time. Any objections?**

**wandless: **I agree. Katie has most definitely lost it.

**Eruaphadriel: **Yes. Rotten evil Emily. Leave it to Oliver to be clueless about her behavior. Well, up until now, that is.

**armr4sleep16: **Oliver and Katie definitely do have a variety of feelings between them. Maybe that explains their ever so changing behaviors.

**Lia06: **Hah. Maybe me confusing you is just payback from you getting me with that fake e-mail. ( can't remember if that was on here, or the other fic, but oh well ) But, so you are not confused . . . Katie and Oliver got 'close' and Emily was out . . . lets say snooping . . . and she saw the whole thing, yet chose to only confront Oliver, threatening him and basically telling him that she controlled their relationship and for him not to make a fool out of her. Of course, in this chapter he is totally blowing off her warning . . . but that is all I'm going to say on that. Hope I didn't confuse you more.

**rembrandt: **Now she's even more likely to call him a bimbo with this mind set. Expect to see that comment coming up within the next . . . three or four chapters. Estimate, not sure exactly since I haven't been writing that far ahead.

**Spexy: **Bingo. As usual, Emily will cause some trouble eventually.

**DerisiveButterfly: **Hah. I can only imagine what those beeps stand for. Anyways, you could say that it isn't a love based relationship. As Alicia and Angelina pointed out in Chapter 2 ( I think ), there is definitely a sexual basis to it. And the fact that they are both attractive, popular people.

**TheBrassPotato: **Oh yes. Where would we be without complications? -goes and dreams of relaxing on the beach- Erm, anyways . . . love to hear that some of Oliver's comments brightened your day. Sometimes I put things in there that others find humorous, and sometimes I only do. Glad to see you get some of that. Fit of giggles, hehe. Reminds me of . . . me! Now, let us all wish for Emily to go away! -starts chanting-

**foryousuckers: **Thank you for the review! Keep it up.

**Ok. I know I typed longer responses to some people, but to every reader/reviewer, I love you all and please keep on reading and reviewing my stories, even though some might hit little bleh spots. Any ideas and suggestions are welcome. **

**-PiscesWeb25-**


	17. Mood Killer

**You guys thought you got lucky and got rid of me, hm? Not so lucky. I went on vacation and saw THE best concert I have ever been to! I'm sure you guys have heard of Coldplay, right? Well they are just awesome live! Phenomenal! I don't care if you are a Coldplay fan or not . . . that was just an incredible concert! Anyways . . . I am back now! And in a little bit of pain due to a recent piercing of the navel . . . but lets not get into that.**

**Rating: T. Language and situations**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter! Duh!**

* * *

Katie was making her way to the library hurriedly. It had only occurred to her right after she woke up that her and Cedric hadn't even set an exact time for when they were planning on having their little 'date'. She hadn't been too excited about the date, to tell the truth. Well, she had been whenever she was with Cedric . . . but Oliver just made everything difficult. _Can't he just leave us at friends? We're either friends or less than friends. Less than friends bites, but gah . . . he won't let us be just friends. No Oliver thoughts! I'm going to meet Cedric. Cedric . . . not Oliver._

"Oliver? Cedric?" Katie had waltzed into the library to find Cedric and Oliver standing very close to the doorway and appearing to have a normal conversation. After the initial shock of actually seeing the two _talking_, Katie then thought of what they could be talking about.

"Katie," Cedric's voice was his usual relaxed tone as he greeted her with a big smile.

_Ok. He doesn't sound severely angry. He is succeeding in making me feel like the worst person ever at the moment. Ah, why couldn't he be some stuck up jerk? _"Cedric – am I interrupting anything? I didn't know if we were meeting now or later – ?" She trailed off as she struggled to avoid eye contact with Oliver.

"No, now is fine." Cedric nodded assuring her.

"You know, Katie, you look mighty tired. Rough night last night?" Oliver asked in a formal tone . . . acting as if he didn't know exactly what had happened last night.

"No, actually." Katie made a point to keep her focus on the Hufflepuff Seeker. "Best night of sleep I've had in a while, I think. Sort of like an epiphany. Everything is _crystal_ clear now." She said in a hostile tone, her eyes still smiling at Cedric. "Thanks for your concern."

"Did I miss something?" Cedric held Katie's gaze before slowly glancing at Oliver.

"Nothing important." Katie bitterly told Cedric, trying her best to mask her tone. _If he wants to try and 'accidentally' let slip to Cedric what happened last night, I have every right to be a bitch to him. Followed by a big 'what the fuck' next time I see him. Alone. _"Detentions were last night, you know, and Snape wasn't in a very good mood."

"Usual stuff." Oliver added, deciding to drop the topic. "I'll leave you two alone." He shrugged, his lips forming a smirk as his eyes briefly –and finally– met Katie's. "Thanks for the advice, Diggory."

"Yea, well, just think about it." Cedric shrugged.

When it appeared Oliver might say something to prolong his leaving, Katie took this time to comment. "Good-bye, Oliver." She stressed his name.

"So eager for me to leave?" Oliver mused and when a confused expression began to form on the Hufflepuff Captain's face, he quickly said his farewells and left.

"Katie," Cedric began cautiously. "What's up with you and Wood?"

_Lie . . . tell the truth . . . lie . . . spill my guts . . . lie and continue relationship . . . tell the truth and be free to be with Oliver — bloody hell. I _do_ like him. Lie . . . spill . . . lie . . . lie. Lie. _"Hm? Nothing is up, Cedric. We just settled things last night, and you know how Snape is. I never want to see another muggle cleaning bucket ever."

"So detention wasn't chasing fluffy bunnies through flower fields then?" Cedric looked disappointed when Katie shook her head. "Damn."

"What do you know about fluffy bunnies?" Katie looked at Cedric suspiciously, "Cedric – are you a bit _confused?"_

"Me? Over what?" The slightly older Hufflepuff Seeker eyed Katie cluelessly.

"Oh, I dunno – your sexual preferences maybe?" Katie raised an eyebrow at her – would he be classified as a boyfriend?

"Well see there is this one position –,"

Katie immediately silenced Cedric, "Pervert! Not like that! I meant your preference as in gender. You know – male or female! Ach, nevermind you."

"Oh, in that case, Marcus is looking mighty fine today, dontcha think?" Cedric purposely teased and gave Katie a nudge on the shoulder and nodded his head back in the direction of a table where Marcus Flint was seated.

"You nasty, nasty bugger." Katie shuddered as she tried to envision _someone_ imagining Marcus Flint remotely attractive. "Wait a minute – he _reads_?"

"And _writes _too, apparently," Cedric clicked his tongue, "Shocker."

"The world truly is ending," Katie sighed dramatically. _He doesn't suspect a thing. Yes! Why do I feel so incredibly rotten? I am an awful person for keeping this from him, but sometimes it's _Katie squinted her eyes as she looked up at Cedric, "Sorry?"

"You weren't paying me any attention, were you?" Cedric cracked a smile, looking not the least bit agitated.

_Mm, he's too good for me. Something bad is going to happen I know it. _"Sorry," She apologized again.

"I know you had a long night, no need to apologize." The Hufflepuff said as he pulled her slightly against him.

_Cedric, only if you were a little less clueless! I wouldn't feel so awful! _"Yeah, long night." She repeated, not assuring herself in the tiniest bit.

Cedric, of course, was oblivious to the dismal tone of her statement. "I was asking if you knew about the Hogsmeade reschedule."

"Reschedule? They can't! I'm hoping on meeting Mischa on the next visit. I all ready sent her the date last night." Katie was immediately upset again and annoyed at Hogwarts' decision to suddenly change the Hogsmeade dates.

"The next visit is today. You didn't see it on the bulletin this morning?" Cedric asked as he looked at his light brunette companion.

"Ah. I barely got out a 'hello' to Harry and Lee this morning when I saw them. I was a bit rushed to get here." Katie didn't want to seem desperate to be around Cedric, so she added, "We never did actually set a time yesterday when to meet, you know."

"True. But, we can go if you'd like. I know it's unlikely that Mischa would be able to make it on such short notice." Cedric was actually slightly happy with the fact that he would get to spend a day in Hogsmeade with Katie, but he decided to mask it with showing equal disappointment with her.

"I suppose we can," As soon as she said it, she gave herself a mental slap, "Not that I don't want to spend the Hogsmeade visit with you. I'm just referring to the fact that I don't get to see Mischa, that's all."

"Oh no, I wasn't thinking that at all," Cedric insisted, telling somewhat of a lie. More of a half-lie. He had been slightly shot down at her lack of enthusiasm, but in an odd way he understood where she was coming from.

"Good." Katie nodded. "Let me go change into some more 'muggle' attire and pen Mischa a quick note to explain to her what is going on." She nodded to the inside of her robes where her scrolls were. "I suppose we won't be working on this assignment today."

"We have a few more days. Today should be a fun day." Cedric persuaded.

Katie didn't object and she leaned up and gave Cedric a kiss on the cheek. "I'll be back down in a bit. Meet me in the Great Hall in about forty five minutes."

* * *

It was nearly 90 minutes later and Katie Bell and Cedric Diggory were sitting on the ground across from the Shrieking Shack drinking butterbeers.

"What do you think is the big deal with that place?" Cedric took a swig of his drink and nodded his head at the Shrieking Shack.

"I dunno. I'm quite terrified of it actually," Katie admitted. "This is the closest I've ever been to it." She shrugged and set her drink on the top of a chopped down log.

"You're kidding, right?" Cedric gave her a sideways glance and after a few seconds of silence, he grinned. "You are being serious! Katie Bell, I cannot believe it!"

"I can't help it! Apart from the noises, it's just creepy! Especially with people like Jon and Lee going around and spreading all kinds of stories." The Gryffindor Chaser added in her defense. "There are a lot of people around here that are scared of the Shrieking Shack!"

"So why are you here with me now?" Cedric asked, leaning back on his elbows and extending his legs in front of him.

"Because, _we_ are on a date and it is the middle of the day _and_ it's not as scary when you're with someone else." Katie glanced back over at the Prefect and rolled her eyes at his relaxed position.

"So you can't just be like the others and go into the ever so cheesy 'Oh but I feel so safe with you' mantra." Cedric laughed, but Katie was not laughing.

She went rigid as she thought his words over. "Others?" She stressed as she slid away from him. "This is where you take all your dates then?"

"Katie – Katie, no. Not like that." Cedric was immediately up from his relaxed position, ready to defend himself.

"It's a simply question, Cedric, answer it." She asked, shying away from him as he tried to grab her hand.

"No, Katie. Not all of my dates." _Idiot, just had to throw 'all' in there. _He immediately read her reaction and knew it wouldn't be a good one.

"_All_? So there have been some exceptions?" She snatched her butterbeer up and was soon in a standing position. "I don't mind your past girls, Cedric," She said as she looked down at him. "I just don't like your lack of originality." She then proceeded to pour the remaining contents of her butterbeer onto Cedric's lap. "Oops." She dropped the bottle and began to briskly walk down the road back into the main part of Hogsmeade.

"At least I don't go off and try and seduce someone to secure a spot on the team!" Cedric yelled in a very uncharacteristic and vicious manner. When Katie's rushed steps faltered slightly, he continued. "Yes, I know all about what happened between you and Wood! Things tend to get around when you don't bother to keep private things private, Katie!"

Not bothering to look back, she continued walking down the road to Hogsmeade, and didn't stop there. She continued to follow the road back up to the grounds of Hogwarts, not stopping until she reached the Quidditch Pitch – the one location where she knew she could find the one person who needed to be dealt with.

* * *

Just as Katie walked through the massive doors leading to the Pitch, she looked around and saw two figures flying about overhead. One was definitely Oliver . . . the other was a redhead. Probably Fred or George. Most likely Fred since she could have sworn she saw George and Alicia sitting on a bench as she had marched her way through Hogsmeade.

"WOOD!" She bellowed – not exactly showing her anger, but it was a windy day and she doubted the figures overhead could hear her if she spoke in her normal tone, even though she was quite loud at times.

One of the figures stopped midair as Oliver Wood's last name rang up to the sky. The other followed suit and descended towards the ground.

As they neared, she realized that it was not Fred or George Weasley, but the flaming red hair had belonged to Ginny Weasley.

"Hi, Katie." Ginny said in a slightly shy voice. More like a _'Go away and never come back_' tone disguised to be polite.

"Katie," The Scottish voice of Oliver broke her little 'staring' contest with Ginny as she turned to look at the owner of the voice. "Need something?"

"I need to have a word with Hogwarts's biggest snitch." She quickly narrowed her eyes as she realized what Oliver's natural response would be to that. "And I don't mean anything Quidditch related either."

"Don't go calling Ginny such things because she was going to be your replacement, Katie." Oliver replied innocently, as if he didn't know that she was referring to him.

"Replacement? Funny, Wood." Katie didn't looked too amused as she cast a glance at the youngest Weasley. "I need to talk to you _now._"

"I'm busy." The Scotsman stated flatly.

"I'm fucking furious." She retorted in the exact tone but with a more Irish tinged accent.

"Such language." Oliver replied in a mocking tone. "Ginny, you'll make an excellent Chaser one day – perhaps Seeker, even – but at the moment there are no openings on the team. As of yet." He added the last three words as he cast a pointed look to the older Gryffindor girl.

"Thanks. Bye." Ginny said with a shrug and headed back to the locker room to change into some clean robes.

"As you were saying?" Oliver began to walk towards the male locker rooms himself, Katie trailing behind him.

"You lying, two-faced, sabotaging, arrogant, snitch!" She fumed to the back of him as she followed him to the Gryffindor Males' Locker room.

"I honestly don't know what you are talking about." Oliver said in another one of his unreadable tones.

"Don't deny it, Wood. I had a whole date blow up in my face because of your fucking mouth." Oliver opened the locker room door – and even though girls were only allowed in the boys locker room during match day conferences with the Captains – she continued to follow him in.

"Sorry to hear of your misfortune with Cedric," Oliver said in the least sincere tone imaginable.

"You lie through your teeth. You are just jealous because I chose him over you." She snapped as he set down his broom and shed his thick practice robe, revealing even more Gryffindor colored practice uniforms and turned to look at her.

"That you did." He said simply and reached and arm around her to open the combination lock on his locker, not caring about the close proximity they were in to each other or the contact that his arm was making with her upper body.

Speechless, Katie's mouth opened and closed several times and only a little more than a few squeaks came out. "Ah – ba – ah –," _Jeez he's a hot asshole. Erm. Jeez he's an asshole. Not hot. Yes hot._

"Do you mind move –," Oliver was cut short when Katie pulled him against her and he heard the loud crash of her back hitting the lockers.

"You ruin my dating opportunities with one of the most stable guy in Hogwarts and I can't help wanting to feel you next to every centimeter of me. Tell me where I'm going wrong here." Her tone of voice was slightly dazed and airy as it left her mouth, but it didn't seem like either cared what the other was sounding like at the moment.

Oliver, still very sweaty from practice – not that Katie seemed to mind –, nodded in agreement with Katie, not really knowing what there was to be agreeing with. "I dunno," Was his breathy response to her seemingly rhetorical question.

Katie's hands slid up and around to the back of his neck and into his newly shaggy hair, slick with moisture. Oliver's lips came down and finally – for the first time since that brief moment on the train – met Katie's in a rushed and somewhat sloppy kiss. The repetitive short and hot kisses were stopped when Katie arched up out of more pain than pleasure.

"Your lock is digging into my back." Her words came out in short breaths. Breaths that didn't take too long to reach Oliver's lips that were no more than a few centimeters away from her own.

"Ever heard of a mood ruiner?" Oliver rhetorically asked as he – and Katie – backed away from the lockers.

She rolled her eyes. "Oh shut up." They were soon interlocked again. Lips, limbs, and practice uniforms flying around the locker room.

Oliver had just finished shedding his shoes when it dawned on him – even though this was not the most appropriate time to ask – that he needed to know what in the blazes she had been going on about earlier. "Eh, Katie, what was it that I allegedly did again?"

Unfazed by him bringing up a rocky topic, Katie didn't discontinue her losing battle with the buttons on his practice shirt for a long while before sighing and saying in one long breath, "You-told-Cedric-what-happened-with-us-last-night."

His mouth was about to be pulled down to her neck again when he paused, "I didn't say a thing, I swear." His lips briefly met her skin before his head was yanked up by his hair so that his facial feature's was level with Katie's.

"I saw you talking this morning. I can put two and two together you know." She was still needily placing kisses here and there on his face, jaw line, and neck.

"No, Katie." He pulled her a short length away from him. "It wasn't me." His voice was serious.

Katie looked at him in utter shock. She had been so sure it was him. So there they were – half undressed, standing in the locker room, in the middle of a hot make out session – and Katie was wearing this completely clueless look on her face. "_Talk about a mood killer._"

* * *

**Talk about hard to write. So many revisions, so little brain power left. Anyways, after this chapter, some time will elapse, so in case I forget to announce it in the beginning of the next chapter, you'll know what's going on.**

**Realist: **I did really think about the whole having her either distance herself from the both of them OR date them both at the same time, but I came to the conclusion that this turn of events could give me a little bit more space to expand creatively. I doubt this short scene was anything like the stairway one, but a writer can try!

**Harry Lvr: **Yeah, I like to throw Harry, Ron, Hermione or some of the younger characters in for a small part every now and then. Yes, the years are wrong, but I think I mentioned that earlier . . . I might not have. I'm a bit . . . forgetful at times. lmao at your second review. Completely random, yes, but I found it quite amusing. Also, I have no idea how to answer that question! Onto the third review . . . yes, I would probably kick his ass as well, but sometimes guys say cheesy things, even Oliver. (or the Oliver in my fic will at times). I'll probably write in the Quidditch game. If not the game itself then the aftermath immediately following the game.

**armr4sleep16: **Much to Ginny's dismay, Katie is on the team again. And at this point in the story, skipping time is probably the best thing to do. As for more ideas, I've got several, but weaving them together is the tough part at times.

**norg: **The whole Oliver being with Katie while still being with Emily thing did get quite a lot of ideas streaming through my head, so thank you much for reminding me of that. As for skipping time, I think I shall definitely do that.

**TheBrassPotato: **Longest review I think I've gotten from you! Perhaps anybody! Anyway, lets address things in order. Sorry, but you cannot have this Oliver. He is much needed at the point in the story, but any chapters he does not appear in, you are more than welcome to borrow him for a short amount of time. Yes, Katie acts stupid a lot, doesn't she? I do not like doing the whole 'I-love-you speech unless it is more of a fanfic in a more mature setting. Not when they are 15, 16, or 17. Although, there was some kissing in this chapter, I hope you aren't displeased. Cedric is now shedding the Golden Boy personality. I wouldn't consider myself a fan . . . but I was upset when he died in the fourth book. I never really liked Beowulf myself, but I hope the so called BS factor of the report didn't earn you a bad grade on it.

**Maverly Q.**: Don't you just hate computers sometimes? As for the whole always wanting, but not always having theme, I totally agree. Sucks majorly, it does. As for how long . . . I'm an awful writer for not knowing. No longer than 30 chapters. Probably about 25? Just a guess. Depends on how many people aren't throwing rotten fruits and vegetables at me as I continue the story. Yummy popcorn.

**Lia06: **Glad you aren't confused, for I am a confusing person at times. Ok, soI skipped the taking a step back part and went straight to the GO FOR IT part, but . . . eh, well . . . I just did that for no apparent reason. Hehe. Glad I'm writing some good 'Katie-Ollieness'.

**Spexy: **Due to 'mood killers' the actual hooking up could take a while. I also sooo wanted Oliver to beg, but stupid me couldn't make it sound right without it either sounding waaay too girly or sexual. The speechlessness kinda made it real . . . I hope! This is sorta a love-hate relationship in a way. The fight, they nearly make out, they fight, they do make out. Ay yi yi!

**Lady of Masbolle: **I do hope India is/was fun! Simply amazing? Really! Thanks! And you weren't exactly right with your prediction at first, but it didn't eventually come into play! Um. Not sure on the exact amount of chapters. 25-30 total maybe?

**FieryPhoenix21: **A whirl of emotions is right! Thanks for the compliment on Katie's character! And your last question will be answered sometime soon!

**Ok everyone! Have a great day/night and I'll be hearing from you shortly! I hope!**

**-PiscesWeb25-**


	18. Preparing

**I'm back now. So I don't have to write about it again, and because I'm short on time, read everything after "2nd Review" under my response to TheBrassPotato's review.**

**Rating: T**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or anything affiliated with Harry Potter**

* * *

Nearly a month had passed, and Katie and Oliver had yet to confirm or deny that they were in a relationship to any of their friends. Katie's closest girl friends were of course the most suspicious, with either Alicia, Angelina, or Iris asking at least once a day if Katie "was with Oliver/Cedric/anyone". Of course, Cedric's name was soon dropped out of that question within a week of their 'break-up'. Though, it is hard to break-up when you never really dated.

Oliver was still with Emily, which posed quite a problem with everyone's ideas that Katie and Oliver were an 'item'. Which, they kind of were. Then again, they weren't. Simple, huh?

To add to much of their friends' frustration, the Gryffindor - Slytherin match was approaching fast. In less than a week the two rival teams would be clashing in a massive match. The rivalry between the two houses had been escalating since day one of their return to Hogwarts. It seemed to be the worst the rivalry had been in decades – if not ever. It was as if every member of the Gryffindor team shared an equal amount of hatred towards at least one person on the Slytherin team and vice versa.

Harry and Draco Malfoy, Slytherin's Seeker, had always shared an extreme dislike for one another, but Draco had recently taken to taunting Harry about the dementors, and Harry was being just as vicious. Oliver and Marcus Flint – there wasn't much to say about the two of them. Both team Captains, one a Keeper, the other a Chaser; one considered extremely attractive by all of Hogwarts, one the exact opposite. To add to that, Marcus Flint and Oliver Wood had been in numerous fights over the years. Some on school grounds, some off of them. Flint had gotten the best of Oliver once in their younger years, but it hadn't happened once since. Every row since then had resulted in Oliver coming off slightly better or someone breaking it up before it escalated to the two mauling each other.

Montague and George had never really been bitter enemies until about two weeks ago due to Montague making lewd gestures and comments to and about Alicia. Of course, that didn't go over well with George and the Gryffindor Beater was making it his priority to knock the hell out of each bludger in Montague's direction. George's twin didn't really have a legitimate reason for his hatred towards the other Slytherin Chaser, Warrington, but he just figured there was probably a good reason, but he just hadn't figured it out yet.

Katie and Alicia had ongoing feuds with the two Slytherin Beaters, Derrick and Bole, who would constantly hit the bludgers in their direction for no apparent reason after the game whistle had been blown. Sometimes even when Slytherin were practicing and the two girls had arrived early for Gryffindor practice.

That left Angelina with one of the most sickening rivals. Bletchley, the Slytherin Keeper who Angelina had dated very briefly in her Third Year. The opposing Keeper had taken a liking to yelling perverted things and Angelina as of late, and the not so reserved Gryffindor had turned him into what looked like a miniature ogre and unicorn mix. Not a very pretty sight. Thankfully, Remus Lupin, the new Defense Against the Dark Arts, was not a strict teacher and was able to transform him back . . . even though Bletchley did go and rat to Snape shortly afterwards.

"C'mon, Katie, it's been a month. What happened with Cedric?" Iris curiously asked as Angelina, Alicia, Katie, and herself sat in the stands on the Quidditch Pitch, 45 minutes before the three Chaser's were supposed to be at practice.

"Nothing ever did happen with Cedric." Katie shrugged her shoulders. "It was just one date. It never progressed from more than that."

"Quit being vague. Something turned you off to him, what was it?" Alicia pried, crossing her left leg over her right one as she laid against on of the side walls in the stands.

"We just _weren't_ compatible," Katie stressed as she gave an exasperated sigh. "Just drop it."

"All right. Fine." Alicia and Iris agreed.

"Why aren't you joining in on another game of 'Prying into Katie's Love-life?'" Katie asked as she looked down two rows at the unusually quiet Angelina Johnson.

Angelina thought out her response in her head. "You know how when we were younger we promised we wouldn't let guys rule our life?" All three of her friends nodded. "Well, look at us!"

"What do you mean?" Iris was the first to ask the obvious question.

"Don't take this negatively, ok?" Angelina asked before immediately continuing. "Alicia, you've got George, and I'm glad really. Iris, you and Jon have been together for a long time, which is excellent at our age. And Katie, I see right through you, dearie, I know there is something going on with you and _someone_." Angelina could have said the person's name, but decided not to and just be vague like Katie had been earlier. "All of us have been spending less time with each other and more time with our guys. You know, I can't remember the last time the four of us, Fred, George, Jon, Lee, and Oliver all just hung out together."

"Ange –," Katie began, only to be interrupted by Alicia.

"Sounds like you're more lonely for a guy than anything else," Alicia blurted.

"What?" Angelina looked at her in disbelief. "No! Not at all!" She protested. "Alicia, you know me. That is not what I'm getting at here."

"It's just –," Alicia began to defend herself.

"No, Alicia, it's just nothing. It's not like I'm feeling excluded as far as boyfriends go, I'm not, ok. I'm just choosing to not go out with anyone at the moment. That is perfectly normal, you know." Angelina looked crossly at George Weasley's girlfriend, "Or maybe you've forgotten times when it was normal not to be involved with someone in a relationship."

"Ange, 'Licia, calm down." Iris and Katie began saying to each of the girls.

Angelina and Alicia both looked ready to apologize when there was a shout from on the field.

"NOW THAT EVERYONE _ELSE _IS HERE, WOULD YOU THREE GET DOWN HERE!" Oliver was shouting to Angelina, Alicia, and Katie as the three girls looked down at the pitch and noticed that Fred, George, and Harry had all made their appearances.

"You Quidditch people." Iris rolled her eyes as the three girls all rose and made their way to the stairs that led to the bottom of the pitch. "I s'pose I'll just sit here and watch."

"Feel free to suddenly throw something at Oliver." Alicia commented to which Angelina added what sounded like 'madman'.

"The game _is _this week." Katie added in some defense of Oliver. When met by two mirrored glares from Alicia and Angelina she lifted her hands in a protective motion. "Just saying –."

"TODAY LADIES!" Oliver shouted impatiently from the bottom of the pitch.

"PRACTICE ISN'T FOR ANOTHER THIRTY MINUTES YOU KNOW!" Alicia called over the railing to her Captain.

"FIVE LAPS AROUND THE PITCH, ALICIA!" Oliver called unhappily up at the protesting Gryffindor.

"WHAT?" She yelled back down irately.

"AFTER PRACTICE! WOULD YOU LIKE TO MAKE IT MORE?" Alicia decided not to test Oliver's patience, knowing that she would be tired enough after practice; she knew she would be exhausted after doing five laps around the entire pitch and didn't want to risk Oliver doubling it.

"Jeez, would he get a good lay already." Alicia muttered her thoughts aloud.

"He's got Emily for that." Iris commented dryly as Alicia, Katie, Angelina waved to her and they began going down the stairs to the bottom of the pitch.

"I said a good lay, not an STD." Alicia called back as they began disappearing under the stands.

Angelina and Katie chose to ignore this interaction between Alicia and Iris about Oliver's sex life.

"Not going to join in with a comment about Emily, are you?" Alicia asked the two Chasers that were walking ahead of her as they went downwards.

"Not going to waste my time." Angelina simply stated.

"Don't feel like it." Katie blandly responded, not wanting to hear any more of the person Oliver just couldn't seem to get rid of.

"Am I missing something here?" The more pro-Emily bashing Chaser asked her two teammates.

"No." Katie and Angelina echoed together.

"What is up with you two today?" Alicia asked the two with some disgust in her voice as she pushed ahead of the two and began walking fastly down the stairs, soon disappearing from the sight of Angelina and Katie, who were walking slowly.

"You know that I know, right?" Angelina asked Katie quietly when she was sure that Alicia was out of earshot.

"Yes." Was Katie's dull answer. "Thanks for not commenting about it to them earlier."

"It's not my place to tell them what's going on." Angelina said in a serious voice, "Though I'm positive you all ready know that the longer you keep it from Alicia and Iris, the worse it will be when they find out." She added, "And they _will_ find out, Katie."

Katie knew Angelina was right. Secrets did have a tendency to come out at Hogwarts, and often the results weren't so pretty. "I know Ange," Katie told her friend with a deep sigh, "But how can I tell them when _you_ aren't even supposed to know. _Nobody_ is supposed to know."

"What good is a relationship if you can't flaunt it?" Angelina added with an edge of humor in her voice, though not much.

"He's still with that _cow_," Katie said with distaste. "It fucking kills me that he's forced to act all happy with her. She's _such _a bitch."

"Why doesn't he just end it with her then? Solves everyone's problems that way, doesn't it?" Angelina inquired. She might have known that Katie and Oliver were involved, but that still didn't mean she knew all the circumstances of their relationship.

"He can't." Katie sadly admitted to her friend, "She's threatened to do all these awful things, say all these nasty things." When Angelina gave her a look that practically screamed 'Since when do the two of you care what she says' look, Katie continued. "I told him that there is nothing she could say to make much of a difference, but he argued back with the fact that it might not affect him since this is his last year, but that I still have one more year left and sometimes rumors can be somewhat cruel."

"Katie!" Angelina said alarmingly, "You know very well that everyone would ignore what she says. Plus, you'll have your friends with you next year to help shut her up. There's got to be something more to it."

Katie and Angelina were nearing the bottom of the stands and Katie drew in a harsh breath. "She said she'd get _pregnant_ if Oliver left her."

"Katie, I know you aren't a genius at times, but you two know it takes _two_ people to do the deed." Angelina stopped at the bottom step and grabbed Katie by the arm and stared her in the eyes.

Katie shook her head confused, "I know... she was going on about _collecting_ sperm from one time she and —," She looked down, facing the reality that Oliver had indeed had sex with Emily, "_Oliver_," She finally said, "had sex."

"That's gross." Angelina scrunched up her face. "Report her, Katie."

"She'd deny it all!" Katie protested. "There's no winning with her! It's all sick and twisted games to her. She enjoys all of this! She's dead determined that their _relationship _can only end on her terms, and her terms only."

"Kates, I'm real sorry to hear all this." The other Chaser said sympathetically. "It will all end eventually. Until then, just inform Iris and Alicia, they won't tell anyone, you know that."Angelina released Katie's arm. "Lets get to practice now, 'kay?" She gave a small smile and a nod. "We've got some Slytherin scum to deal with soon."

Katie returned the small smile and nodded as well, "Yeah, that's always fun."

"Beginning to think you two disappeared." Oliver came jogging up to the bottom of the stands. "Now is this a chat fest or are we here to play some Quidditch?"

"Shut up, you." Angelina rolled her eyes and swung good naturedly at Oliver. He ducked and she stuck her tongue out. "I'll get you one of these days."

"My reflexes will always be better than your aim." He gave a satisfied smile. "You'll just have to deal with that."

"Dork." Angelina rolled her eyes. "I'll go grab our brooms." She said to Katie, who nodded in return.

Katie and Oliver watched Angelina's retreating form head toward the lockers. "She found out, didn't she?" Oliver asked.

"I didn't tell her. She just _knew._" Katie shrugged. "I don't know how, honestly."

"Lets not worry about all that, ok?" Oliver asked, putting his arm around Katie's shoulders. "You're the one I'm worried about."

"Me?" The Chaser asked as she looked up at him with a confused expression on her face.

"Yes." He affirmed. "You haven't been yourself lately. You seem drained and you just – aren't yourself."

"It's all this sneaking around." She pulled away from him, and his arm fell back down to his side. "I just want it to stop!" Katie let out a frustrated breath of air.

"Katie –," Oliver lifted his hand to reach out to her, but it fell back down to his side. "I don't have any control over the situation. I hate the feeling and I know you do too, but we'll just have to deal."

"I'm sick of _having to deal_ with the situation. I'm sick of only being able to act like we're _together_ when everyone else is asleep or after practices. I'm fucking sick of Emily Bradshaw!" Katie accidentally let the last sentence come out as a yell and Oliver was immediately shushing her.

"Look, Katie, I'm as sick of it as you are, but this is how it's got to be. At least until the winter holidays, ok?"

"Pah, the winter holidays. That's barely three weeks." Katie bitterly mumbled, "Three fucking weeks of freedom? How privileged."

"What would you rather me do, hm?" The Gryffindor Captain mused. "Any ideas would be helpful, Kates."

Katie placed her hands over her eyes and closed them tightly. "I'm just feeling drained, that's all. It takes energy to keep all this a secret, you know."

Both of their voices had softened and Oliver lightly placed his arm around her again to draw her closer. "I understand." She glanced up at him and he made to give her a light kiss, when she moved her head and his lips instead made contact with the top of her head. "Lets – um, let's get to practice." They broke apart and went walking out, two meters distance between them.

"Eh, Woodie, get your Scottish bum over here and start your beloved practice!" Alicia called to the approaching Captain and Chaser.

"Hey, why are you talking about _his_ bum?" George asked as he glanced at is girlfriend in a false offended way, hovering about four feet in the air on his broom.

"Your English bum is all ready over here, why should I bother with it?" Alicia continued the light banter.

"Oh, would you two _shut up_." Harry shivered and made a gesture as if he was about to hurl.

"He speaks!" Angelina exclaimed as she clapped Harry forcefully on the back.

"Ow!" Harry vocally expressed the pain of Angelina's topaz gemstone ring digging into his back.

"Oops, sorry Harry. It must have turned," Angelina apologized as she corrected her ring and adjusted it so that it faced the right direction.

"Right," Harry didn't bother hiding his skepticism, but shook it off.

"Now that everyone is finished," Oliver cleared his throat as the group turned and looked at him, Katie moving to where she was standing beside Angelina, who nodded her head towards the ground, indicating that she had set hers and Katie's brooms down. "We have a game in less than a week, and I would appreciate it if we could manage to win the Cup this year."

"Yes sir!" Fred saluted the Quidditch Captain.

"You got it!" George balanced on his broom as he joined in with the salute. "Eh, would someone toss me my bat?"

Angelina picked up the Beater's bat and tossed it up to him, George managing a sloppy one handed catch. "Be thankful he's a beater," Angelina teased as she called to her broom and mounted it. Alicia and Katie did the same as Fred picked up his own Beater's bat.

"Let's start with some simple passing down the field and try one on one confrontations at the goal. Girls, whoever you want to attempt to score is completely your decision; use your best judgement. Fred, George, just work on – erm – not knocking anyone out. Save that for the match, if you please." Fred and George looked slightly disappointed, but shrugged and George began rising upwards. Fred was sitting on top of the trunk that held the two bludgers and the rest of the Quidditch balls and he would be the last to rise into the pitch. "Harry, practice on your turns. Tighten them up a bit ... other than that you're fine." Oliver looked back at Fred, silently asking if he was ready.

"On your cue, boss." Fred did his best American mafia impersonation, but failed miserably. The remaining members of the Quidditch team rose into the air, and Fred eased off of the unlocked trunk. Two black balls came soaring out into the air, and one was immediately hit by George in his twin's direction. "GEORGE!" Fred called unhappily as he quickly grabbed his bat and smacked the ball upwards. He hastily released the snitch and grabbed the Quaffle. "Hey, Angie!" Angelina was the closest Chaser, and she looked down and flew a little bit closer as Fred threw her the Quaffle. Finally, Fred was on his broom and getting into the action.

"Iris! Watch out!" Was the next thing out of George Weasley's mouth as he misdirected a bludger and it went soaring towards the stands, and more importantly, Iris Phillips.

"George you prick!" Iris yelled as she dodged the oncoming bludger that quickly turned around and headed towards Katie. Fred easily intercepted the harmful ball and sent it sailing towards his brother.

"I said watch out!" George defended, but gave up whenever he had to dodge an oncoming bludger sent his way from Fred.

"This is going to be a _long_ practice," Iris mumbled to herself as she leaned back on the bench like stands._ I should seriously reconsider doing that History of Magic essay. _She decided she'd rather be doing anything than that; and until Jon finished up his detention with Sprout, this was all there was to do. _Jon just had to go and hex Sprout's plants to where they were singing the Weird Sisters' songs. Genius he is, hm?_

**

* * *

Ok, there it is. Yet again, I apologize for the delay. I just wasn't very inspired these past two weeks or so. **

**Lady of Masbolle: **Since it seems links won't show up on the review thingy (I don't know what the appropriate thing to call it is!) I decided to look up Robert Pattinson, and he is quite good looking. As for the length of the fic, I'd love to keep on going, since I have some ideas surrounding the Mischa situation, but it all depends on if I continue getting good reviews or not.

**beexyanca: **You weren't able to go to one of Coldplay's concerts? Drats! Well, I'm sure they'll be putting out another CD sometime! At least I hope so! Maybe you can catch them if they do a supporting tour. Glad you liked the end of the chapter! I feel so awkward writing that kind of stuff. Like, when it happens in real life it seems so much easier to describe rather than writing it! (At least for me!)

**wandless: **That's ok if you can't quite picture her the way I write her. Since there isn't much detail on Katie Bell, it's kind of hard to capture what her personality would be like. I guess that's where fanfic writers are supposed to get creative! Happy to hear reading my fics are still enjoyable!

**FieryPhoenix21: **Phenomenal ... wow! Chapter 17 gets a phenomenal? I'm shocked and extremely happy you used that word!

**Lia06: **Cedric was cool for a while, but I guess I just got bored with the character. Not exactly the _character_ but more of the plot involving the character. Does that make sense? Anyways, spinach pie? Sounds good, though I've never had any before. I'll have to make a point of trying that one day.

**Maverly Q: **Hm, it would fit Emily's personality to tell Cedric what's been going on – but I'm not going to give a definite answer. Oh, and I have read some of your fanfic, I think I submitted a review. As soon as I upload this, I'm going to go finish reading the chapters you've posted.

**TheBrassPotato: **I was slightly scared when I read the first part of your review. With the whole falling off the face of the Earth and entering a dimension with pink elephants and blue men who like to stick their tongues out in greeting one another. Then, I laughed! Very creative! Wonder if that place really exists ... The butterbeer might have been a little harsh, but I just had to make Katie do something like that. As for the locker scene, as I said earlier, it was awkward to write! I just kind of took the first idea I had and stuck with it ! 'Good Morning' is still on hold. I've only wrote about another two pages (WordPerfect pages) and I'm still adding and editing. Perhaps by next week there will be an update. **2nd Review: **It wasn't a chapter, and I didn't kill anyone off as you now know. A guy that I knew – a friend – was killed/killed himself (I say killed/killed himself because it is still under investigation) two Friday's ago.

**Onasi26: **Thanks for reviewing 1, 9, 10, 14, and 17! I was glad you liked the way I portrayed Cedric. Or, at least the early version of Cedric. Also, I hope Oliver will become more likable now that he's mostly in the clear as far as fighting with people goes. Oh, what does El Dag Yo mean? And what language is it? Sorry, just had to ask!

**Quinn: **Thanks for the tip. I really don't know why I posted that little paragraph. I had just found out about the incident and felt like I had to 'vent' somehow.

**devilishly dreamy: **As for not liking Emily, I'm beginning to see that a lot of people have the same feelings toward her. Hehe. Yet, I cannot give a definite answer to if it was her or not.

**Spexy: **Sadly, the make out session did not continue. That doesn't mean there won't be more in the future though. LoL about it being time Katie and Cedric had a fight. It was getting too almost perfect! Something had to be done! Hehe.

**blue lily floating by: **Chapter 18 was more of an authors note that didn't need to be posted. Now that you've read Chapter 18, I hope you like it!

**Ok. Gotta go now! I hope to be getting some reviews from all you readers soon! In the next chapter there will be some tidbits referring to the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor game, but the whole chapter won't be just about that! Good night/morning! **

**-PiscesWeb25-**


	19. Weddings, Alicia, & Marcy

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything Harry Potter related! Also, I can't find my Prisoner of Azkaban book at the moment to cite the correct pages, but I did use some direct quotes from the book in a scene about mid-way through. It's the scene whenever Oliver reveals they won't be playing Slytherin ... so please know that I don't claim to have written that! The dialogue is 100 J.K. Rowling!**

**Rating: T. Language, people!**

**A/N: I'm back! At least for a little while! This chapter is a bit longer than the usual updates, but that is because I have been such a meanie and not updated in forever!**

* * *

"Hey." Katie greeted Oliver as he walked into the Common Room later on that evening. "Finally done torturing Alicia?" 

"Practice is not torture, dear Katie." Oliver insisted as he joined her on the couch near the blazing fire that seemed to never go out.

"Practice may not be torture, but running around that pitch numerous times sure is." The female countered. "Exactly how many laps did you add on for Alicia during practice?"

"Fifteen total." Oliver said, not the least bit remorseful. "She deserved it with her attitude today."

"Oliver, it was still a bit harsh you know." Katie attempted to reason. "I don't see how Alicia had an attitude today."

"Let's drop it, Kate." The Quidditch Captain had taken to lately calling her by one of her lesser used nicknames the past few hours since the middle of practice.

"Oh, all right, fine." She agreed and placed her legs over his lap. "I'm tired anyways."

"Go take a nap." Oliver suggested to the dark blonde/light brunette Chaser.

"Then I'll be awake all night." Katie sighed as she covered her mouth to prevent a yawn from escaping. "I got a letter from Mischa today."

"Oh really?" Oliver asked in a tone that suggested that she continue on.

"Dean's dear mum wants the wedding to be the first weekend after I get home from Hogwarts." Katie dismally continued. "How does she expect everyone to drop all their plans on such short notice? That's just a little over a month away, you know." She rolled her eyes, "I'm not complaining on my part, but there are other people that need more notice. Mischa was kinda put off by her idea as well. She used some colorful words to express herself. Or maybe she's just overly hormonal. Either way, this is just bloody insane. She said Dean's mother bitches about getting invitations to social events on short notice, yet she only gives people a little over a month to prepare for a wedding. Let me add, she regularly considers about two months time as a proper notice to parties."

"Sounds like a pleasant character." Oliver put in his comment whenever he was sure Katie was done having her say so in the matter.

"Yes well, I'd suggest you start pulling your dress robes out." Katie added.

"Dress robes? Huh?" Oliver's brown eyes were focused on Katie's hazel ones in an instant.

"The wedding ... you are going to go with me right?" Katie asked, a hint of uncertainty creeping into her voice due to his reaction.

"Oh ... I - I don't know about that, Katie." Oliver stammered. "I mean - It's not that I don't want to ... but I've still got to plan things out with my family for the holidays."

"Oh, ok." Katie nodded; a tinge of uncertainty still in her voice. "Let me know how that pans out for you."

"Katie, look, don't sound so down. I really will try to make it." He thought the better of continuing, but did anyways. "Maybe its best if I just go as a friend, not as a date."

Katie knew that he had a very valid point, but was yet again frustrated with the fact that their relationship was yet again compromised. "A dance or two wouldn't be all that suspicious, now would it?" She gave a shadow of a smile, and Oliver returned it.

"Not at all." Oliver agreed. "I'm sure my mum and da won't think anything of me coming to Mischa's wedding, so perhaps you can go ahead and plan on me coming, hm?"

"Sounds good." Katie smiled and gave a nod. "I'll let you know more details whenever I get them myself."

Oliver smiled and they fell into silence. "Well ..."

"Oliver, have you ever loved someone?" Katie suddenly asked, her words coming out cautiously. "A non-family member."

"Katie –," Oliver's voice told that he didn't like the subject.

"Please, Oliver, I want to know." Katie pried in a barely audible voice. "I'm not searching for you to tell me you love me ... we aren't nearly there yet."

"Fine." He paused and thought about his answer, the best way to phrase it. "I've told someone I loved them in a romantic way, yes. Did I mean it? Of course not. I just said it because the person wanted to hear it. Which is wrong in its own way in several different aspects of the matter, mind you."

"Care to elaborate a little?" She mused, curious to see what his personal views on the matter were.

"Well, you should never tell a person you love them because they want to hear it." He gave her a half-joking look, "Do not let the other guys find out I'm talking like this –," Katie nodded. "But, I think it should be something that you aren't forced to say to stay in a relationship. It's wrong to the person and to you."

Katie nodded, observing Oliver's uncharacteristic take on the matter. "Never thought something so ... thoughtful would ever come from you, Ollie-dear." She replied to her boyfriend.

"Actually sounded convincing, didn't I?" He mused, taking a hold of Katie's wrist and pulling her over to his lap.

"Quite so," She nodded. "Erm ... isn't this the wrong place for me sitting in your lap?" Katie queried, realizing that it was the middle of the evening and anyone could return from the library or anywhere else and see them.

"I can do some quick thinking if someone walks in." Oliver pulled her face closer to his own and placed a kiss on her lips lightly.

"You, think quickly? Sure I can rely on that?" She teased as she placed a chaste kiss on the corner of his mouth.

"Ha. Ha." He stated, not incredibly amused. He still pulled her downwards and to the side as he repositioned himself and pulled her back into the sofa with him. "I resent that comment."

"Knowing you, you're probably thinking up Quidditch strategies at this very moment. Using me merely as a cover up for your obsession." Katie told him smartly, throwing her whole head back to get her hair out of her face, since Oliver had restricted the use of her hands by pulling her downwards with him.

"I can think of other strategies I could think up," The Scotsman replied, alluding to a bit of suggestiveness, but not fully.

"Mm," Katie leaned down to meet his lips, teasing him with several pecks before allowing the two pairs of lips to fully embrace. Oliver's hands worked from their previously stationary place on Katie's hips upwards under her shirt, stopping whenever they meet the obstacle of her bra. His hands were cool on her ever heating flesh, sending cool shivers down her back. The motion of her shivering had subconsciously made Oliver pull her tighter towards him. He was now flat on his back on the sofa, Katie's upper half pressed completely against his chest, her lips on his, her hair falling around both of their faces.

* * *

Alicia Spinnet was absolutely prepared to strangle the life out of Oliver Wood. Fifteen laps around the Quidditch Pitch! Fifteen laps! I'm definitely not out of shape, but damn if that was fucking ridiculous. Not to mention now there are like a million stairs to be walked up before I get to the Common Room. Ugh. Why didn't I pay more attention whenever George and Fred decided to show us their 'secret' passageways that cut the distance in half? 

"Bitch straight ahead." She commented to herself as she trudged up from down by the lake, where one of her extra practice shirts had blown once she had got on the path from the Pitch to the Castle. Emily and Marcy were standing in front of the large Castle doors. Probably waiting on another desperate whore to add to their 'ranks'.

"Well if it isn't George Weasley's bitch." Marcy commented snidely as Alicia came within hearing distance.

"Better than being half of the school's bitch." Alicia coldly sneered as she came closer to the two Hufflepuffs.

"Don't want to get you all riled up. You Gryffindors are quite vile." Emily matched Marcy's sneer, with a more Cockney spin rather than Marcy's clearly Yorkshire accent. "And quite violence prone."

"You've been on the receiving end of that once, dear, care for another round?" The Gryffindor saw the anger flash on Emily's face and smiled broadly.

"We all know you lot don't fight fair." The blonde chirped, followed by an 'ooh' from Marcy.

"Yet here I am outnumbered and you'd still call it an unfair fight." Alicia observed with a wry smile. "Classic."

"You'd best watch it." Marcy commented, attempting to big herself up. "That thing between Emily and Bell was unfair from the start."

"Oh yes. The very walls of Hogwarts have a vendetta against Emily!" Alicia sarcastically laughed at the notion. "Probably because she's been whoring around too much with her back against the wall, right?" She added with another laugh.

"You weren't even there, you snobbish brat." Emily tried her best to offend Alicia, but failed miserably.

"What are you? Seven?" The Gryffindor rhetorically asked. "The only people who touched each other were you and Katie. Well, aside from a little slap in Oliver's direction."

Emily kept a cunning smile on her face, mentally smirking at the fact that she was the reason Oliver was being tortured by the public. Forced to stay with Emily while it was public knowledge she was with a Slytherin Sixth Year, Scott Nelson. Making Oliver look like an idiot for staying with her. On the down side, she very well knew that he was with Katie on the side as well.

"What Oliver sees in you and why I'm even wasting my breath on such rubbish is unknown to me." Alicia scoffed and pushed her way past the two Hufflepuffs, gaining entrance into Hogwarts. She was tempted to attempt and lock the two huge entrance doors, but thought the best of it since there would be such a big deal made of it whenever someone figured out the door had been locked. Well ... maybe when the dementors came at night, it would be more entertaining to see Emily and Marcy.

Alicia paused when she saw the stairs and cursed Oliver Wood with every swear word she had ever known and some she made up by saying random vulgar words together. On the bright side of her Oliver cursing – thankfully for him, not literally – she was able to get up about two flights of stairs before coming to a loss of what to call him.

After tripping on one stair and hurting her toe, she went through the same process cursing the specific step. New words popped in her head and that time she was able to cover another two flights, since she was now moving at somewhat of a slower pace.

Finally, the Fat Lady was in sight. She had never been happier to see that damn portrait in all her Hogwarts years.

"Is that you will all that colorful language coming up the hall? Quite unladylike if I say so myself." She huffed at Alicia, who only met her with an agitated stare.

"No one asked your say so." She grumbled, adding in the password before the Fat Lady could retaliate, which gave the Fat Lady no other choice than to swing open.

"Good night!" She huffed. She didn't see it, but she was met by Alicia flipping the bird behind her back.

Alicia entered the Common Room just in time to catch Oliver disappear up the stairs. She mentally noted that whenever he made his reappearance to make her feelings known to him. She was about to assume that everyone else were elsewhere in the castle whenever she caught a glimpse of Katie moving by the fire.

"Hello to you, too, then," Alicia said loudly as she waltzed over to where Katie was sitting in one of the Victorian-esque deep red chairs.

"Oh, sorry, 'Licia, I was thinking." Katie replied honestly as she snapped out of her daze. "How was –,"

"Being tortured thanks to our dear Captain?" Alicia finished for her roommate. "It was just brill." She sarcastically responded. "Even more so whenever I had the displeasure of coming across Marcy and Emily in front of the castle doors; just what I needed whenever I'm already in a right shitty mood."

Katie tried her best to poise her response as one as just extreme dislike for Emily, not one of obvious hatred for Emily due to the 'other woman' complex. Although, that wasn't quite fitting since they knew about each other and that Oliver wasn't actually continuing to have a physical relationship with the Hufflepuff. "I couldn't handle those two in one night." Katie commented shortly.

"Yeah, well me being the lucky shit that I am gets that privilege." Alicia huffed unhappily as she collapsed onto the sofa – unaware that Oliver and Katie had been previously being 'close' in that same location, but had overheard much of Alicia's 'conversation' with the Fat Lady and had quickly broke apart.

Katie stared into the fire for a few seconds, not knowing what to talk about.

"You and Oliver seem to be through that little rough bought you went through a few weeks back." Alicia observed, breaking the silence.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, yeah, I guess we are." She had been noticeably distracted and Alicia's comments had brought her back to their conversation.

"Weird." Alicia mumbled to herself.

"What'd you say?" Katie turned to face Alicia and furrowed her brow.

"You're acting weird. Actually, every time someone brings up Oliver – or you and Oliver – you go absolutely nutty." Alicia stated, approaching the topic for the first time with Katie, even though she had thought about it on several occasions when she had been talking with Katie, or others had been talking to Katie when she was around.

"Oh." Katie mumbled dumbly. "I – I haven't noticed that."

"Seem mighty nervous about it, despite not noticing it." Alicia studied her mate closely, trying to be as perceptive as she could in the dim lighting of the fire and the dwindling sunlight outside.

"Nervous? No, just curious as to why you'd think I'd act weird when talking about Oliver." Katie attempted to cover for herself, but began to wonder if it was too late and she should come clean.

"It's not that big of a deal, Katie. I'm just making a little observation." She nodded and relaxed against the couch for a moment, savoring the silence. "As well, Oliver's probably still a touchy subject with you."

"Why would Oliver be a touchy subject?" Katie cocked her head to the side in confusion as she looked at her friend quizzically.

"This year hasn't exactly been the best with you and him; or him and anyone else for that matter. Add to that the fact that the two of you were friends/weren't friends/were friends, etc. and you've got perfectly good reasoning for awkward moments." Alicia said, completely oblivious to the major detail in the whole puzzle was the one she just couldn't seem to grasp.

Katie was quick to agree with a 'yes' to keep from getting into detail about the subject. She nor Alicia had much time to continue on whenever Angelina came down from the Common Room.

"You two: up and up." She demanded upon seeing the relaxing Chasers. "It is time for dinner and I do not want to be forced to sit next to Percy Weasley again. So hurry up so we can get some good seats!"

"Jeez. Don't give a girl some time to rest after being forced to run around the bloody Quidditch pitch a dozen and more times!" Alicia objected, but stood nonetheless. "You are aware you are carrying me up and down those steps, right?"

"Eh, least 'til I find George." Angelina played along. "C'mon Katie, lets go get some food!"

* * *

Oliver Wood was extremely angry. Angry just didn't seem to cover it, actually, irate was probably more fitting for his mood. It was the last scheduled training session before the Gryffindor – Slytherin match and he had just found out that it wasn't going to be Gryffindor versus Slytherin, but Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff. 

The team had gathered in the locker room before attempting to go out and practice in the awful Northern weather.

"We're not playing Slytherin!" Oliver announced angrily as everyone around him fell into silence, only to erupt into choruses of disdain. "Flint's just been to see me! We're playing Hufflepuff instead!"

"Why?" His teammates asked with disbelief and annoyance coming through in their tones as well.

Oliver clenched his teeth and began to explain the situation, "Flint's excuse is that their Seeker's arm's still injured. But it's obvious why they're doing it. Don't want to play in this weather. Think it'll damage their chances!" Oliver was completely about to go off on a rant, but Harry yelled his displeasure first, as thunder rumbled in the sky somewhere far off.

"There's nothing wrong with Malfoy's arm! He's faking it!" The youngest member of the team yelled, knowing more of the alleged injury than any other members of the team, since he had been there whenever Malfoy had sustained – or rather, provoked the occurrence of – his injury.

"I know that, but we can't prove it," Oliver bitterly told his team, "And we've been practicing all those moves assuming we're playing Slytherin, and instead it's Hufflepuff, and their style's quite different. They've got a new Captain and Seeker, Cedric Diggory –"

Katie looked around the room awkwardly at the casual mention of Cedric's name. She didn't like Cedric anymore, but it had all been such an unusual experience with Cedric …

"I don't know why you're worried, Oliver, Hufflepuff is a pushover. Last time we played them, Harry caught the Snitch in about five minutes, remember?" Fred reminded his Captain, attempting to breathe some assurance into the situation.

"We were playing in completely different conditions!" Oliver shouted animatedly. "Diggory's put a very strong side together! He's an excellent Seeker! I was afraid you'd take it like this! We mustn't relax! We must keep our focus! Slytherin is trying to wrong-foot us! We must win." He finished his rant with the ever apparent 'must win' statement.

Fred tried again to lower his Captain's temper. "Oliver, calm down! We're taking Hufflepuff very seriously. Seriously."

Oliver wasn't too amused and instead folded his arms across his chest. "Practice has been extended by half an hour today. Fred and George, try working on your aim and direction against the wind, since it doesn't look like this weather will be letting up by Saturday. Harry, Diggory has a fast swerve, remember that, so you might want to try looping him – work on that in this condition as well. Angelina, you've already proven that you can pass well in these conditions, so you'll just need to concentrate on the scoring aspect of the game for the most part of today's session. Alicia, you and Katie need to improve your link up plays. The two of you haven't been connecting as well in recent practices." Everyone nodded at his tips. "Oh, don't fly to high in this weather. No higher than the lowest goalpost. Fred and George, only use one of the bludgers, and try to keep them within sight of the two of you, since no one else will be able to see them that well."

He finished and nodded towards the door, indicating that it was time for them to go out and face the elements. They all began to file out of the room. Fred, Harry, Alicia, Angelina, and Fred were all out quickly, the first two carrying the trunk with the balls in them, though only two would be used today – the Quaffle and one bludger.

"Quick word please, Katie." Oliver said as she prepared to exit the men's locker room behind Fred.

Katie nodded and shut the door behind Fred, rather than follow him. "Yeah?"

"I didn't want to bring it up in front of everyone, but I want to you work on your mental focus for the game." Oliver said, using more of a professional tone than a boyfriend one.

"My mental focus, sorry, could you elaborate a little on that one, please?" Katie leaned against the doorframe as she cast a confused gaze on Oliver.

"I saw your look earlier. Whenever I mentioned Diggory." Oliver simplified his words. "I'm not completely clueless whenever I go off on a rant, you know."

"Oh," Katie nodded dumbly, "You shouldn't be worried about the mental aspect of my game, Oliver. I'm past the whole ordeal with Cedric. It was never much of anything to be made an 'ordeal' anyhow."

Oliver relented, taking her word for it. "Lets get to practice, hm?" He quickly approached her and kissed her lightly on her temple.

Katie sighed and followed him out of the warmth of the locker room into the harsh, cold rain. She held tightly onto her broom as they entered the actual pitch, keeping her eyes on Oliver. The past week their relationship had been nearly nonexistent. She realized the pressure of the match, and now the added fact that the opposition had been changed, but it was like the relationship had drifted back to one of friendship rather than one of a boyfriend and girlfriend.

Katie shook her thoughts off and decided that now wasn't the time to be concerned with the status of her relationship with Oliver. She loved Quidditch just as much as anyone on the Gryffindor team, and now was the time to focus purely on that.

She spotted Alicia in the air, talking – or trying to talk to – Angelina as they waited on Katie and Oliver. Alicia needed Katie to help practice their passing and Angelina needed Oliver in goal to work on her finishing. Which brought to mind …

"Hey, Oliver!" Katie shouted ahead, even though Oliver was only a few meters ahead of her. "Do we have two Quaffles out?"

He paused, thinking why she would be asking about the Quaffles whenever he realized that Angelina would need a Quaffle and so would Alicia and Katie. "No! I forgot all about that!" He called back truthfully. "I'm going to go ahead and start with Angelina at the moment. Why don't you go back and grab another Quaffle out of the spare trunk?"

"Alright!" Katie called ahead. She saw Oliver mount his broom and rise up, explaining the situation to Alicia and Angelina. He and Angelina zipped off towards the nearest goal post and Alicia remained stationary, hovering as she watched Katie head off back towards the Gryffindor lockers.

Katie entered into the girl's locker room, instead of the boys, knowing that they kept a trunk of Quidditch balls in each locker room. She quickly entered, welcoming the warmth of the locker room compared to the chilly rain outside. Her hair was completely soaked, as was the rest of her, and was sticking to her face. She froze the instant she saw a trail of water already in the locker room, her broom falling out of her hand.

It hadn't been raining whenever they had arrived to practice, so no water should have been in the locker room. Alicia and Angelina hadn't been back here – she had seen them in the air just a few seconds ago. "Hello?" She called to the entire locker room, seeing no one outright in the open.

The door shut with a loud bang! Katie spun around quickly, her hair flinging water in a circle. "M-Marcy?" She stammered out, more out of being so chilled than of fright. "What the fuck are you doing here?"

Marcy didn't say anything, but just stalked towards Katie, a maddened look on her already sharp features.

"I said, what are you doing here?" Katie repeated, taking a few steps back, to prevent Marcy from getting to her.

"Do you think I need a fucking reason to be in the fucking locker rooms?" Marcy spat out viciously. "I just came to pay you a fucking visit, is that a bloody problem?"

"Hurray for the most use of the word fucking in two sentences I've heard all week." Katie sarcastically replied to the advancing Hufflepuff. "And, yes, it is a fucking problem, because this is not your fucking locker room, you bleeding Hufflepuff cunt." Katie mocked and insulted Marcy at the same time, hiding her growing alarm as to why Marcy was really there.

Marcy wasted no more time with words and instead lunged at Katie, arms outstretched. Katie's shock played to the Gryffindor's disadvantage and Marcy's hands were soon wrapped around Katie's petite neck. Marcy's razor sharp nails were digging into the sensitive skin of Katie's neck and little drops of blood began to form where the nails met flesh.

Katie's first instincts were to pry Marcy's hands off of her body. When Marcy had lunged, they had hit the hard, marble flooring and Katie was at another disadvantage since Marcy was atop of her. The dark blonde Chaser's flailing arms finally found Marcy's and Katie began to try and pry Marcy's hands off of her. Speaking was already beyond her and screaming was impossible.

It had been nearly ten minutes since Katie had left and Alicia knew that it didn't take but merely five to get the extra Quaffle out of it's case. She flew – against the wind – over to where Oliver was saving a weak shot from Angelina.

"Alicia, I thought you and Katie would be practicing by now!" Angelina called over the howling wind to the only other present Chaser.

"I can't practice without a partner!" Alicia shouted back. "And I can't fly up high enough to see if she's heading this way or not!"

"She wouldn't quit on us!" Angelina responded to Alicia before turning to Oliver. "Are you sure she knows where the extra trunk is?"

"Yeah! She helped you put them back up just two days ago!" Oliver assured the darker Chaser.

"Well I'm going to go check and make sure she isn't having a hard time finding it!" Alicia called over to Oliver, having to raise her voice even more since Oliver was farther from her than Angelina.

"Alright!" Angelina and Oliver chorused as Alicia descended and disappeared from sight – due more to the harsh rain than the distance she was from them.

"Katie Margot Bell! Are you so thick you can't find – ," Alicia's eyes swelled into those equivalent of teacups whenever she saw the figure of another woman on top of Katie, hands wrapped around Katie's throat. Alicia flung her broom to the ground and rushed towards Katie and the figure.

The figure hadn't stopped whenever Alicia entered, and Alicia summed up all her strength to wrench the woman off of her best friend, completely forgetting about using her wand.

She was torn between ensuring that Katie's attacker was immobile or making sure Katie herself was alright. "Katie. Katie Bell." She murmured to her friend as she crouched next to her. She observed the blood on her friend's neck, seeing the small puncture wounds that had been caused by the nails of the attacker. At this, Alicia glanced back to get a view of who it had been. Too late. All she saw was the back of the woman as she ran out of the locker room. Damn it. I should have at least seen who that was.

"'Licia … Alicia." Katie groggily came to and, with Alicia's aide, she sat up. "Ach, my neck – I couldn't breathe."

"I know. I know." Alicia nodded as she pulled out her wand and summoned a towel off of the rack over to the two. "Here, put some pressure on your neck." Katie obeyed, and held the towel to her neck, removing it a moment later. "They aren't deep." Alicia observed, taking the towel from Katie and dabbing it on her friend' neck one final time before removing it completely.

"I – I need to get back out and practice …" Katie spluttered after a long period of silence between the two.

"Wha? Are you out of you mind? Are you mad?" Alicia gazed bewildered at her best mate, "Katie, first things first, love, who did that to you?"

"It – it doesn't matter. She'll get hers. The match is more important." Katie tried to get to her feet, but Alicia grabbed a hold of her shoulder and firmly held her in her place.

"Listen, Katie, it might not phase you at the moment, but whoever that was – they just tried to strangle you. Kill you. Does that not mean anything?"

"Yea, yeah, of course it means something to me, 'Licia. But this is a massive match coming up! I need to practice!"

Alicia crouched dumbfounded as she allowed Katie to get up. She held her same position, frozen, as Katie moved about the locker room and found the spare Quaffle that had ignited all of this in the first place. "Katie … at least tell me who that was! Was it Emily?"

Katie placed the Quaffle under her arm and picked up her broom she had dropped earlier. She shook her head. "It wasn't Emily."

"Simona?" Alicia inquired, thinking about Emily's friend. "Or Marcy?"

Katie froze up a little bit after Marcy's name was mentioned. "Don't worry about it, Alicia." She commanded firmly.

"It was Marcy, wasn't it?" Alicia didn't listen to Katie as she stood and grabbed her own broom. "Damn it Katie, at least tell me who it was!" She insisted as her mate didn't bother saying anything to her.

"Leesh, chill, alright? It doesn't matter who it was! Don't worry about it! All we need to concentrate on is preparing for the match against Hufflepuff! I'll deal with whatever issues afterwards, not before. My priorities are set, and that's how they are going to stay."

Alicia wanted to continue arguing, but she relented. "Alright. Alright." She repeated to herself. "Feel free to tell me whenever you want." The two women walked out of the locker room and into the cold rain, not speaking another non-Quidditch related word between them for the rest of the training session.

Oliver had been just as tired as the rest of them whenever practice had been over, and so there had been no extra discussion about tactics or the match whenever they returned to their locker room. The three girls had silently filed into the girls' locker room and the guys had did the same – Fred and George still having the energy to talk animatedly about their next planned prank on Snape.

Katie had turned her turtle neck under shirt up to cover the scratches on her neck, Alicia being the only member of the Quidditch team that knew about them. Alicia hadn't mentioned anything to anyone and Katie had been silent all through practice, save her limited exchange of words with Alicia.

The girls were too drained to talk, and the only words exchanged where whenever Katie and Alicia asked Angelina to pass them a towel from the towel rack since Angelina was closest. In an almost robotic-esque way, they walked into the separate shower stalls, stripping off their clothing once inside and throwing them over the top of the stall, leaving the towels hanging on the top of the door.

Katie lightly touched the area of her neck where Marcy had sunk her nails into. It wasn't deep, she knew that much, but it still felt sore to the touch. Her own nails – short, but just long enough to scratch – accidentally re-opened one of the wounds and Katie observed the little stream of red-tinged blood that ran down her body and down the shower drain. It wasn't an alarming amount of blood, but just enough to turn the water the faintest shade of red – or more appropriately, pink.

The girls usually stuck to the same shower stalls, so there were a few of Katie's preferred items in this particular stall. Vanilla scented soap, lavender shampoo and conditioner, and an unscented shaving cream sitting on a shelf underneath the shower head. A loofah was hanging from the cold water knob, and Katie lightly picked it up and dispensed an adequate amount of vanilla liquid soap onto it. She gingerly washed the area around the cuts – wincing whenever the soap made contact with the newly reopened cut – and then proceeded to wash the rest of her body.

She heard the water in the farthest stall from her shut off. Alicia. "I'm out, ladies." She called routinely, as they always did. Fred and George often got in a spying mood, so therefore the three Chasers always let the others know whenever one was getting out of the showers, so they could note any odd behavior.

"Ok." Katie and Angelina chorused. "Hey, Katie, think you could let me use your shampoo? I'm all out and forgot to bring a new bottle down from the castle." Angelina told her from the stall to the left of her.

"Yeah, sure." Katie rinsed off her loofah and put a bit of her shampoo in her left hand for herself. "Coming now," She said as she threw the bottle over the top of the stall and into the next one. She didn't hear it hit the floor. "Nice catch." She commented knowingly.

"I always had the better reflexes." Angelina teased.

"But the worst aim!" Katie joked back.

"Oh ha ha." Was the last thing Angelina said before they fell back into silence. Katie shampooed her hair and rinsed, opting not to use the conditioner this time. "Oh, Ange, need my conditioner, too?"

"Oh, nah, I've got some of my own left. I get to smell like lavender and mango. I should feel privileged." She laughed on the other side of the stall 'wall' at the odd combination of the two.

"Trying to attract a certain Mr. Weasley with that combination, aren't you?" Katie teased on the other end.

"Now Katie!" Angelina replied in that high pitched voice she took while trying to annoy someone, "Why ever would I fancy Ron Weasley? Too young!"

"I wasn't referring to Ron!" Katie sing-songed back.

Alicia then butted into the conversation. "Alright ladies, George is ready, so the two of us are going to head back to the castle. The weather is quite horrid, so I wouldn't fancy staying out here too much longer, if I were you."

"I'm almost done, myself," Angelina told her fellow Chaser, who sounded to be standing right outside of the two stalls.

"Yeah, same here." Katie added. "We should be up before too long."

And true to their word, Angelina and Katie were soon done with their showers and dressed.

Katie had cleverly avoided allowing Angelina to see the scrapes on her neck, due to firstly keeping a towel draped over her shoulders – successfully covering her neck – and then by putting on a turtleneck sweater underneath her robes, which was explainable since it was winter and they were in the middle of a freezing bit of rain.

"For the sake of not walking alone, lets see if any of the guys are ready yet," Angelina said to her fellow Chaser.

"Yeah," Katie replied as she shut her locker and followed Angelina through the connector door that linked the male and female locker rooms. Of course, Angelina had rapped on the door to give them fair warning.

"Hullo boys," Angelina greeted warmly as they entered. Harry was cleaning his glasses, sitting on a bench, Fred was putting his broom up into the broom closet and Oliver was hanging up some of his things in his locker.

"Ange, Katie," Fred replied as he shut the closet door. "I was just about to come over and see what the two of you were up to."

"More like spy and try and catch us getting out of the showers," Katie filled in, easily reading what Fred's real intentions were.

"Me? Never?" Fred feigned innocence.

All three of the guys were dressed, and it looked as if they were all preparing to leave. "Right," Angelina rolled her eyes, "well, we wanted to see if any of you were ready to head back to the castle. Ya know, offer a little company."

"Ooh, Ange company," Fred wiggled his eyebrows, "Put me down for a yes."

"Oh would the two of you hook up already!" Oliver exclaimed as he shut his locker, noticing the two at the beginning of one of their flirting/bantering sessions.

* * *

**There it is! The Chapter that took forever to put up!**

**I don't have time to write out individual thank yous, but thanks to:**

**Harry Lvr**

**wandless**

**Beexyanca**

**TheBrassPotato**

**FieryPhoenix21**

**Lia06**

**uhm . . . **

**Anna**

**molly**

**RandomSmirf13**

**FoamyTheSquirrell**

**amanda-gurl**

**Aquamarine Moonshine**

**Misfit7x10**

**'-aphros-'**

**rondoer**

**MotherCrumpet**

**White Gloom**

**aznchic2009**

**I think that's everyone! Thank you all! **

**Ok! Please read & review!**

**Luv ya all!**

**PiscesWeb25**


	20. Waiting Game

**A/N: To all of you who read this story I am so, so sorry for such the long delay in updating. Not to make excuses, but this past month has been hell. I hope that I haven't caused any of you to lose interest in this story because of the delay. Those who read and review this story mean so much to me! I know this isn't the best story and I hope that once it is finished I can go through and edit it and make it something really enjoyable. With that said, thanks for reading and as usual, drop me a review!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter! Wish I did :)**

* * *

"Ange," It was the middle of the night in the Castle and Alicia Spinnet was lightly shaking Angelina into consciousness, the light breathing of Iris, Katie, and Camille providing an almost soothing sound to the pitch blackness of the room.

"Mmph," Angelina groaned, turning over onto her side, her eyes fluttering opened. "Whaddya want, 'Licia?"

"I need to tell you something … about Katie," Alicia urged, sitting on the edge of the bed and pulling the privacy curtains around the bed.

"What about her?" Angelina whispered, pulling herself up into a sitting position, using the headboard as a prop for herself.

"I'm not supposed to tell anyone, Ange, but I had to, alright. So don't mention _anything_," Alicia could feel Angelina's 'would you get on with it' gaze on her and she continued, "Today, whenever Katie was taking so long getting the Quaffle for practice … well, whenever I went back to see if she was getting on alright, she was being strangled by someone. I dunno who, I didn't get a good look. I was just … shocked. And Katie didn't seem to remotely care."

"Strangled? As in a malicious type of strangling?" Angelina's voice, although low, possessed a sense of urgency.

"Yes, drew blood an' all. She wouldn't confirm much, but I'm sure it was Marcy. Why wouldn't she want to report it to Professor Dumbledore? Or at least McGonagall."

Angelina sighed, knowing a fraction more of the complexity of the matter than Alicia did, "'Licia, there's something you just might need to know. But you can't tell _anyone_. Not George, Fred, Iris, Jon, Cam … no one."

Angelina now had Alicia's interest piqued and Alicia hurriedly encouraged Angelina to continue, "Yeah … c'mon Angie."

Angelina lowered her voice as much as possible, "_Katie and Oliver are together and Emily knows that. They're very secretive about it, but Emily knows and she won't let Oliver break it off with her. She's threatened some really awful stuff, Alicia. That's probably why Marcy is getting at Katie like this, for Emily._"

"_Our_ Katie and _Oliver Wood_?" Alicia asked, shocked, "And ... and _Emily_ getting Marcy to strangle her? That's a bit extreme over a guy."

"I never said I knew what Emily is thinking," Angelina shrugged, hugging her blanket to herself as she felt a chill, "But you can't let Katie know that you know about them. I can understand why she's secretive about it. I only found out because I noticed some odd interactions between the two and confronted her about it."

"I guess I shouldn't be too surprised about the whole thing. They've only flirted ever since, well, _forever_. Not to mention the little lip lock on the train." Alicia shrugged, "So I'll keep silent on the matter."

"What about reporting Marcy?" Angelina queried, "Katie would hate us, but she'd be safe."

"I'm going to try and convince her to do something about it, tell someone, but if that doesn't work, I think we'll have to. Her safety is worth more than our silence." The blonde chaser told her mate with a nod.

* * *

**Great Hall**

"Mm, this is delicious," Alicia all but cooed as she put a portion of pumpkin pie in her mouth, her second helping of that alone, not to mention the extravagant meal she along with everyone else had indulged in.

It was Halloween in the halls of Hogwarts, and not a crevice was left undecorated. There were countless numbers of candle filled pumpkins, actual live bats, and floating orange streamers.

"My pie!" Fred grumbled through a mouth stuffed with Merlin-knows what as he reached a fork over and grabbed the last piece off the platter before Oliver could get to it.

"Hey!" Oliver exclaimed, trying to get a last grasp at the pie.

"Its just a pie, you twits!" Angelina remarked, batting Oliver's hand away and taking the pie away from the both of them, "Leave it for the ladies," She smirked, securing the pie as hers by blowing on it, covering it with her "germs".

Both of the two moaned in displeasure. The three exchanged glares before a certain cake caught Fred's eye.

"Ohh, _cake_."

"Do you people ever think of anything other than food?" Katie had been watching the scene from her relatively safe position between Oliver and Alicia.

"Of course Katie-dear," George commented from his position across the table from Alicia – diagonal from Katie, "Just not now."

Oliver leaned in for a quick whisper, "_I'm always thinking of you, too._"

No one else noticed the exchange, but Katie suddenly became very interested in her plate of food as her cheeks took on a light shade of red.

Oliver mentally noted his success in making Katie blush and grabbed her hand under the table with his free one, suspicion free.

"Cookie?" Angelina offered Fred, who was scarfing down a mixture of ... yet again, Merlin-knows what.

"Why thank," Fred reached for the cookie only for Angelina to pop it into her mouth with a satisfied smirk, "you," He finished with a glare.

"_Its just food,_" Angelina echoed her earlier statement.

"Pssht, no matter how much we eat Ollie-ver is still going to make us work it off _and_ more at practice," Alicia butted in.

"Hey when is our next practice? I'm shocked we've gone two days without it," Angelina eyed her Captain.

"Last practice before the match is tomorrow," Oliver answered as he released Katie's hand and wiped his mouth with a napkin, "Which thanks for the reminder, I need to check something out of the library for one last tactical study."

"Oliver," Katie spoke up, "do you honestly think Madame Pince will let you check something out at this hour?"

"Bugger," Oliver had forgotten the timing, "I guess I could get it tomorrow."

"I thought you had a full day of classes crammed in tomorrow," George asked quizzically, "Unless Percy was babbling on about nothing."

"Fuck," Oliver cursed strongly, "I'll just ..."

"We'll be fine without a surprise tactical switch. As long as there are no surprises, we'll be good," Angelina commented assuringly.

"Yeah yeah." Oliver didn't sound so assured, but laid it to rest as the castle's ghosts bounded out of the walls.

'Oohs' and 'Aahs' and a few 'blimeys' echoed throughout the hall as the ghosts put on a spectacular show.

Around a half hour later, the students were dismissed, filing out of the hall quite orderly.

"Oliver!" The unmistakable voice of Emily Bradshaw could be heard through the throngs of students. All in that moment Katie's heart fell. She had been walking next to Oliver – not too close – and had almost forgotten about the trouble that was Emily.

"Katie ..." Oliver whispered lightly, almost painfully.

"Go on," She forcibly smiled as they slowed their walking, "She's your _girlfriend_ after all." Whether she intended to put the emphasis on 'girlfriend' to hurt Oliver or not, he didn't know, but it sure felt like it.

The Scottish Keeper watched as Katie seemingly floated over to one of her friends, Camille, and instantaneously struck up a conversation as he was left to wade through the crowd to see what Emily wanted.

"Getting bolder and bolder," Emily hissed, still plastering a smile on her face as she and Oliver stopped next to a staircase to talk, the other students not paying them any mind as they ventured to their dormitories.

"Should I even bother to ask what you mean by that?" Oliver played her game with a forced smile as he caught Katie and Camille walking past him out the corner of his eye.

"Holding hands, walking everywhere together ... I'm surprised you haven't taken her on the Gryffindor table," Emily seethed, barely able to keep up the happy facade.

"Holding ha – how can you see that? Spies, Em? Or perhaps you're so bitter that you are actually staring at us all the time. Grow up. Why can't you simply process that I don't _want_ to be with you anymore? Merlin, its not like I'm the best bloody guy in this place!" Oliver's voice rose a little, but after garnering an odd glare from a Ravenclaw 5th year he inhaled deeply.

"You haven't done it yet have you?" Emily queried mischievously, a sick smile on her features.

"Done what?" Oliver asked after a pause, completely thrown of track, "Oh for Merlin's sake," His face turned into one of disgust, "Could you be any more pathetic?"

"Aw, Katie hasn't put out for her beloved Ollie," Emily stepped closer to him and looked up at him, as if trying to seem seductive, "You know, even if she doesn't, I would."

It took all of Oliver's willpower to not shove her away from him and create a scene. "You're pathetic," Was all he could lowly mutter. If it wasn't for the nearly drooling 3rd and 4th years staring at him, he would have walked away without another gesture. For the sake of appearances he kissed her on the top of the head and left.

* * *

**Gryffindor Locker Room**

"Nervous?" Angelina asked as she walked into the boy's locker room. It was the day of the Gryffindor/Hufflepuff Quidditch match. It was stormy and no one was looking forward to playing in such weather. Angelina was the first of the females to be completely ready and already knew Oliver would have nagged all the guys into being ready early, so she freely walked into the male locker room.

"Just a little," Harry meekly answered. No one else knew the matters that were weighing in on his mind ... well except for Oliver. Oliver seemed to find out a lot of stuff about him.

Fred addressed her with a nod, but remained silent. He and George were firmly in game mode now. Probably not risking joking around and enduring the wrath of Oliver Wood, who was completely serious today. Sure Oliver wasn't the most humorous of people, nor was he a serious grouch – until it came time to play Quidditch.

"Are Katie and Alicia planning on joining us anytime soon?" Oliver asked, a hint of displeasure in his tone, but not outright snappy.

"Katie and Alicia are right here, dear Captain," Alicia answered as she and Katie walked in, Katie pulling on the last of her arm gear.

"At your service," Katie replied in a chipper tone, despite the obvious bleakness of the weather roaring outside.

"_I bet she is,_" Alicia whispered to Angelina, whom she was standing next too. Unfortunately, Alicia wasn't the best whisperer. Katie and Oliver – and only Katie and Oliver – managed to hear her.

"_Alicia!_" Katie hissed, elbowing her friend in the ribs. _How does she kn – Angelina!_ Katie glared over at the darker of her two best friends. Angelina felt her eyes on her and returned a wincing smile.

Oliver just stared at Alicia for a second, then decided to concentrate more on the game rather than bother with who knew about his relationship with Katie. It looked like Katie had it under control anyway.

"Wood," Madam Hooch opened the door into the lockers, "Five minutes." She said pointedly, before exiting – no doubt to go remind Cedric Diggory and the Hufflepuffs of the same thing.

"Alright team," Oliver let out a heavy sigh, "We haven't been training to face Hufflepuff, but we're the best ruddy team this school has seen in years and I don't think one little mishap can throw us off. Fred and George," He looked over at the twins, "Agh, why do I even bother ... just whack the hell out of those bludgers _away from us_," Fred nearly blushed at the reference to their last game against Hufflepuff whenever Fred and badly miss hit the bludger and hit Alicia, nearly knocking her off her broom, "Ange, I'm counting on you to use your best judgement when to use what plays ... you're the most vocal one out there," He addressed Angelina as she now stood between Alicia and Katie.

"If anyone can be heard out there over weather and crowds its our Ange!" Fred quipped, only to get a glare from Angelina.

"I have a _bat_," He warned.

"But you don't have any _balls_," Angelina remarked, sticking her tongue out.

Oliver just stared at them for a moment, "Ah, right. That can wait for later," He shook his head to get his concentration back, "Alicia, you're the penalty taker, so ... yeah," He honestly didn't know what to tell his team at the moment, "Katie, I want you to stay in a more central roll unless the play absolutely requires you to drift out," Katie nodded obediently, though she didn't really know what that was all about, "Harry, er, just ... catch the snitch."

_Poor Oliver_, Katie thought, _the fact that this really is his last year to win the Cup seems to be catching up to him._

Oliver glanced at his watch. Yep, it was time to get this over with.

"Alright," He nodded towards the door and the team went out in orderly fashion: George, Fred, Harry, Alicia, Angelina, Katie and then himself; all clutching their brooms determinedly.

"Oliver," Katie touched his arm lightly, "After this ..." She began to tell him what it was, but thought the better of it, not wanting to distract him from his Quidditch, "I'll tell you after the game, OK?"

Oliver looked at her curiously, but gave a quick nod and made to move out from the corridor into the pitch, but Katie stopped him.

"Ahem," She raised an eye brow at him playfully. This got a slight smile out of Oliver and he backtracked and quickly laid a light kiss on Katie's waiting lips.

"Good luck," His whispered in his suddenly, yet wonderfully, thick Scottish brogue.

"You too," He kissed the side of her temple and surprisingly took her hand and led her out onto the field, just managing to catch Lee's commentary:

"Oliver Wood and Katie Bell _finally_ make their way out to the pitch, wonder what those two were up to ... _I _wouldn't mind being under the stands with Katie Bell myself ..."

"JORDAN!" McGonagall's magnified voice rang down to the field as she scolded the commentator.

Katie felt a slight blush creep up on her cheeks, but it didn't last too long as the rain and harsh weather began to pelt them endlessly.

"Captains! Shake hands!" Madam Hooch ordered Oliver and Cedric. The two obliged, shaking as forcefully as they could, but neither allowed a grimace or sign of discomfort to grace their equally handsome features. Even if one would have shown a sign of discomfort, its not like anyone else would be able to see it due to the horrendous weather.

After the required handshake, the two Captains backed away from each other. At Madame Hooch's signal, the teams rose into their positions in the air. A whistle was blown and the match had begun.

* * *

**Like I said, this really isn't the best, but I'm going to try working on it. I think everyone's writing skills improve over time and of course style's change over the course of a year. So just work with me here!**

**Special thanks to all my wonderful reviewers! **HaloAngel, Girly.X.Girl, angelfishlatte, DJ32, larney, TheBrassPotato, FoamyTheSquirrell, MPchica, lucifers angel666, TooSweet4Words, Wildphire, luvu4eva, krazygerl, lilangelxox, gryffindorfan, Maggie, sumdea, Horsecrazy378, harry-an-ginny, Aimee, Emerald Puppy, Niamh

**Someone asked how long I planned on making this. I'm really not too sure. It won't drag on forever, I promise. Maybe 7 - 10 more chapters? Nothing definite! When I decide, I will tell you!**

**Much love!**


	21. You Win Some, You Lose Some

Wow. To say it has been a long time is definitely an understatement. I apologize profusely to those out there that were so supportive of me whenever I began this fic so many years ago. I do wish to complete it, but honestly I don't know if I'll be able to do it any justice. I have no notes or anything from whenever I was originally writing this, but I feel as if it deserves some closure. I'll try not to rush it, but I would like to wrap it up shortly. Thanks again to all of you out there who have read my story or reviewed it.

* * *

Gryffindor lost. After all of the planning and preparing, Hufflepuff had won it fair and square whenever Cedric caught the snitch just as Harry plummeted to the ground thanks to a handful of Dementors who chose that moment to make their presence known on the pitch. Harry was thankfully okay and Cedric even had the decency to protest the Hufflepuff victory, but fair is fair and he had caught the ever-important golden ball before Harry had hit the ground.

Regardless, Oliver Wood was currently trying to drown himself in the Gryffindor showers. This had been Gryffindor's year. _His_ year. He felt like a complete bastard for not being in the Hospital Wing with the rest of his teammates checking on Harry, but he just couldn't get his limbs to take him out from under the hot spray of the shower.

Which is why one irate Katie Bell was currently marching across the grounds, having just left the Hospital Wing.

She was just outside the locker room door, prepared to barge into the men's section and tell Oliver exactly what she thought of him for not being there for Harry whenever she saw another figure standing outside. It was none other than Cedric Diggory.

Katie could not resist a little barb his way, "Not celebrating with some helpless victim back at your dormitory, Diggory? Oh wait, your spot is the Shrieking Shack."

Cedric let out an exasperated sigh, "Can't we move past that, Katie?" A glare from the aforementioned Katie had him shaking his head, "I came down here to apologize to Wood, _again_, but he's suddenly quite infatuated with the shower stall."

The Gryffindor Chaser decided to opt for the civil path with Cedric and let out a sigh, "There's no need to apologize, Cedric. You won fair and square. Even I believe that you had no idea what was going on with Harry. Gryffindor isn't so conceited that we think that it takes a fluke to beat us; every team has their moments and today clearly was not ours," She went as far to offer a small smile before continuing, "While Oliver probably wouldn't put it so eloquently at the moment, I think his sentiments would be the same. Win some, lose some."

"You are Katie Bell, aren't you?" Cedric joked, garnering a glare sent his way.

"Very funny. Just because I'm usually quite irrational does not mean I'm incapable of somewhat mature moments. Just don't let _that _get out," She made to move towards the Gryffindor locker rooms, "Now, before the inevitable bitch that I've been suppressing decides to rear her not-so-pretty-head towards the wrong Quidditch Captain, I must go unleash my wrath on a certain inconsiderate Scotsman."

"Nice chat then," Cedric gave her a nod and his ridiculously signature smile, "I'll keep Oliver in my prayers."

If she hadn't been trying so hard to appear angry, Katie might have smiled at the exchange with Cedric as she entered the male locker rooms.

"Oliver Wood, if you haven't drowned yourself already, you're going to wish you had!" Was her announcement as she burst into the nearly empty locker room.

"I know, I know," Was the pitiful moan that escaped from one of the shower stalls, "I'll save you the hassle," He paused for a moment before continuing in a low, even more pitiful tone, "'Oliver, you are not only a terrible person, but a god-awful Captain for deciding that wallowing in your own self-pity is more important than checking on the state of your teammate'," a loud sigh escaped from the stall, "Close enough?"

Katie wanted so desperately to be angry with Oliver, but for the second time tonight, she just could not remain angry at yet another Quidditch Captain. Instead, she plopped down on the bench nearest the shower stalls and made herself comfortable, "Harry is going to be fine, Ol. Thankfully – or maybe not so thankfully – he has bigger fish to fry than holding a grudge against a melodramatic Scottish maniac," At this, Oliver made a noise of protest, but Katie did not let him get a word in, "Yes, Oliver, you are being melodramatic. Mathematically – and no, I don't have the figures, but I'm sure someone else does – we could still win this thing."

The water was subsequently shut off by the melodramatic Scotsman and Katie instinctively grabbed a folded towel from the end of the bench and tossed it over the divider. She didn't hear it plop to the floor, so at least Oliver hadn't lost his touch while throwing his little pity party. Oliver emerged without a word from the stall, towel secured around his waist and not a stitch more on him. Katie could not help but appreciate his half-naked, still damp body, but even at her highly hormonal state as of late, she knew that now was not the time to be going down that route.

"I'm going to go see him, you know," Was the first thing Oliver said as he made his way over to his locker to retrieve some clean clothes, "I do realize I'm being a prat – although I would argue the melodramatic bit," Katie opened her mouth to argue, but this time it was Oliver who did not let her get a word in, "This means a lot to me, Kates, you know that. Every single year since I've been Captain there has been _something_ that got in the way and I just want to go out on top. To prove to this school that we do have the best ruddy team around. I know we do – and maybe it's a bit ridiculous – but it is one of those things that I want to be able to brag about and be able to back up with a title," He had managed to towel his hair dry and something had suddenly struck him as he pulled his shirt on.

Katie had to admit that he looked quite adorable – _really? Adorable? _– as he turned around with nothing but a towel and a dark navy t-shirt on with a concerned look on his face, "Shit. Didn't you need to talk about something?"

"Ah, that," Katie gave a small smile, "That can wait," She had pushed that little confession concerning Marcy out of her mind due to what had happened on the field, "As much as it _pains_ me to say this, why don't you put some clothes on and we can go see Harry. Together."

This got a genuine smile out of Oliver and he gave a nod, "Close your eyes," He commanded, expecting some sort of playful remark on how he was suddenly deciding to be so modest, but whenever Katie wordlessly obliged, he decided to take advantage of her obedience and quickly put on some boxers and training pants. He threw on his cloak and tossed the used towel into the proper bin.

"Is it safe now?" Katie queried, already peaking through her fingers that were assisting her in covering her eyes, "I'd hate to be scarred for life!"

Oliver pulled her from her seating position and wrapped her in a tight embrace, "Shut up," He kissed the top of her head, controlling the urges that being so close to her often brought out in him quite well, "You're lucky I'm being – what did you say again? – ah, yes, a 'melodramatic Scottish maniac' or else I would be inclined to take advantage of this empty locker room."

She laughed against his chest, taking in the smell of his body wash that lingered against his skin, "Hmm, lucky me... Oh!" She drew back with a start.

"What?" Oliver looked genuinely bewildered as Katie pulled back from him slightly. They were still in an embrace, but not so tightly.

"How could I forget! Cedric was waiting on you whenever I got here," She noticed the murderous look in Oliver's eyes and quickly continued, "He was really nice about things, Oliver, honestly. He was coming to apologize to you, but I told him there was no need. Hufflepuff did win fair and square."

Oliver hung his head, accepting the truth to her words and agreeing with her, "I know. That was very... Cedric of him, I suppose. I'm much happier that it was you that I got to see first. Diggory isn't quite as easy on the eyes."

"Is that a joke? Why, my dear Captain, did you hit _your_ head?" She smiled up at him, holding his gaze for a moment, taking the time to really savor this relaxed moment with him.

"I'm trying to be positive," He brushed her lips with his in a chaste kiss, "Lets save the Diggory talk for later. No matter how nice he intended on being, I still would like to play the sore loser card for a bit longer."

Katie laughed at him before pulling away until just their hands were locked together, "C'mon my melodramatic maniac, lets go see to Harry before he changes his mind about forgiving you for moping about down here in the showers."

* * *

OK, as I said it has been years - so I hope this isn't too awful. Thanks again to ALL of you that have reviewed and read this story. You each deserve a personal reply, but I have no idea where to begin. Thank you so, so much and I hope I don't let you down :)

xoxo


End file.
